STEE1 & SW0RDS
by Crysina
Summary: Follow Aeri, Elina, Alshep, and the beater Daath in an epic adventure. Discover the untold floors of Aincrad through the eyes of players just trying to survive the horrifying death game. Enjoy their adventures and disadventures as they deal with death as a constant fear in this cruel virtual world.(Follows Canon)(Biweekly Updates*) *May vary
1. Chapter 1- Welcome to Sword Art Online

Chapter 1.- Welcome to SAO

**November/6/2022**

Finally, it was finally here. Sword Art Online. The pinnacle of VR gaming. I've been standing in line for a good seven hours just to wait for the damn thing to launch. But I finally had my copy and was at register to pay for it.

-That'll be fifty nine ninety nine.

More than willing I handed over the money. This game was going to be the best thing in years to come. Complete immersion. The acclaimed –full dive- was finally possible. All thanks to a nifty piece of tech called NerveGear. This thing actually taps into your brain and feeds it the whole game. It's supposed to work by interacting with your brainwaves. This way the piece of hardware is able to stimulate your sense. All five of them.

To make it look as if you were in the game. You move like in the real world, see touch and feel. It's…it's just like real life. Except for not feeling pain, which is good of course. Thanks to a friend of mine I was able to play Sword Art Online's beta for a day. He got too excited and into the game that he only let me play that one time. It was amazing. I forgot everything about the real world and found myself absorbed in that one. I was in a whole new world, vast and colorful. Filled with exciting possibilities of adventure.

I was ready, I was home. I quickly popped the game in and grabbed my Nerve Gear. Putting the thing on while conscious felt somewhat tight and weird, but once you were in. You didn't feel it at all. Seriously, technology never ceases to amaze me. Thankfully, while in the excitement of the night before I had already charged and calibrated my gear. So I was just minutes away from starting to play. I strapped myself in and laid down on my bed. It's 2:26 a lot of the lucky 10, 000 people with copies should already be playing by now. I got comfortable and closed my eyes.

-Link start.

I started seeing colors but I know I was no longer on my body; the NerveGear had started its amazing doings. After a few seconds of flashing colors of what seemed to be a long tunnel I was at calibration screen. It quickly okay-ed my setting and prompted me with a log in screen. I hadn't seen one of those in a while, SAO was going to be the first MMORPG I ever played and I was excited it was going to be a VR one, the whole concept of the full dive and the game itself was interesting and it was just begging to be tried by myself. Through the log-in screen I found a character slot.

-Create New-

Selecting the option showed what appeared to be me right before my eyes. Curly short black hair, tall, slightly chubby. I was certainly not going to play as myself. Why be yourself when you can be a better version of yourself? Just to fool around a bit I went over the change sex option. What a horrible idea that was. A woman with my physical qualities isn't exactly what I would call attractive.

Without hesitating I switched it back to male and started making some minor adjustments over my image. Straight hair. A Little muscle here. Less fat here. Some other minor changes and done. My avatar was ready. The starting clothes were nothing too shabby but they looked good nevertheless. With a brown and black combination it looked nice in my eyes. I chose a long sword as a starting weapon and placed the sheath at my hip. I've always liked knights hence the placement of the sheath.

-Is this Character OK?-…-Are you sure?-

Yes, I am sure game. Are you questioning how good I look or something? After selecting the right option a flash of white blinded me for a moment. My ears started ringing for some reason. Things slowly became clearer. I could feel I was already standing; I wobbled around a bit and touched my legs. Holy crap this is amazing I can feel the fabric of my pants. Lifting my head a little I could see a plaza with people coming out of blue flashes of light. Voices sounded clearer and I could even hear the steps of people around me.

-Hey guys, let's go hunt some of the boar looking things! Said a player going past me with her group.

The warmth of the sun, the slow yet fresh air current, I could feel it all. Reaching for my sheath I felt my sword and slowly took it out. It reflected sunlight as I thrust it into the air in excitement.

-Woah! Watch it, man!

All feelings of excitement disappeared as I pulled my sword down in embarrassment.

-Err, sorry. I said while scratching my head

I sheathed the weapon and turned around still mesmerized by all the things going on around me.

-Haha, want to get an orange cursor already or what?

I recognize that voice.

-Charles! I shouted while turning around to a bald man and his companion.

-You…you are bald…

Charles was my friend form school and the one who let me try out SAO's beta.

-Indeed I am, and guess what? Charles is also my user name. He said while laughing

-Huh? User name? I can't see it. I said

-Oh, I guess I should invite you to our party. He muttered

-Wait, first things first. How did you know it was me? I questioned

-Well, you always make the same kind of character for games. I would even dare to say you have the same user name as always.

Well that is bullshit, he is either psychic or…I do make the same kind of character for games. A beep snapped me out of my thoughts as a little screen popped up in-front of me.

–Party invite from "Charles"-

Below that two little symbols, a green checkmark and a red cross. I instinctively pressed the checkmark and the screen quickly disappeared. I glanced to my health bar and could see two other bars being added just below it.

-Oh, I forgot, this other guy with me is Daath. We met during the beta testing period. Said Charles

The thin black haired guy behind him stepped forward and extended his hand to greet me. Grabbing his hand with a tight grip I shook hands with him.

-Pleasure to meet you, Alshep. A friend of Charles is a friend of mine. He said

-Haha! I knew it! Same character name as always! Shouted the bald man

I grinned as I punched him on his arm.

-Shut up, you chose a bald man!

Daath started laughing and I joined in to mock my friend. We stopped laughing when something crashed with us, toppling us to the ground. It didn't hurt at all, but it sure was disorienting and I could feel the impact as pressure.

-What the hell, watch it! I yelled

-I-I'm so sorry.

A girl was on her knees rubbing her head. She had red hair and wearing a purple cloak. She looked about my age. A tad bit shorter than me. I got up on my feet and stared down at her, a little angry to be honest.

-Are you alright? Said Daath while helping the girl up

-Uh…uhm yes, Thank you sir. She replied.

This girl seemed clumsy as hell. Thinking on it, she could be a man or an old lady. An awful goose bump went up my spine as I imagined it.

-You seem fairly new to this, why don't you join us? We are going to teach this guy how to play; you might as well come along. Said Charles as he patted my back.

The girls seemed flustered as she looked at her feet and fidgeted a little. Charles kept patting on my back as if waiting for an answer to stop doing so. The girl kept doing her little shy dance on spot.

-Yes or no? I said

This broke her out of her fidgeting and she looked straight at us.

-Y-y-yes! Yes please, please teach me how to play! She said

Charles stopped patting and slapped my back hard. Trying not to trip I stepped forward a bit. I sighed in my head as I hoped for the girl not to be a creepy old man. The little screen popped up in-front of the girl and she nervously pressed the check mark. Another green bar was added below Daath's and I was able to see a name. Elina.

-Alright! We are set! Let's teach these two newbies how to play Daath! Charles shouted.

I've always thought he made too much of a fuzz out of things. Elina got besides me and smiled at me before turning to see the other guys. Oh god…please don't be a creepy old man.

-First off! What weapons did you two choose! He kept screaming.

-I got a long sword. I said while unsheathing the cool looking piece of metal.

-I chose a short sword. Said Elina while taking it out as well

Daath nodded and Charles scratched his chin, trying to appear thoughtful. A few seconds passed by and he didn't move nor muttered anything. Even Daath got in front of him to see what was going. Charles let his arms down with a quick movement

-OK! So a sharp stick and a butter knife! Let's move!

What…? Elina looked embarrassed and she sheathed her sword. I did the same as I tried not to punch my friend in the face. Charles walked past us and Daath waited for us to follow Charles. Daath seemed on the verge of laughing.

-He can be a little…

-Weird, haha I know. I interrupted Daath.

-Is my sword really a butter knife? Elina muttered

Daath laughed a little and patted her back.

-Don't worry he has a starter sword as well. Even I have a starter long sword.

We kept walking down a large street; a kind of lake could be seen from the distance. The town door seemed to be farther across the lake. It all felt so lively, so real, so interesting.

-Oh right, take these as a gift from myself. Said Daath while handing us each, one red vial

-Health potions?

-Yes, but be weary, these take a bit to kick in so be sure to drink if you feel in danger.

Both Elina and I take the vials and store them in our inventory. We keep walking some more and we are already past the lake and heading out of town. Charles walks in front of us in a really absurd way as we follow.

-Wait, isn't everyone supposed to be new to this game? How can you two know how to play? It just came out today. Says Elina

-True, but some people were given early access to the game as beta testers. Replied Daath

We made out of town and into a big open field of grasslands. Other players went in and out of town, rushing, laughing, and having a blast. A strong breeze went by brushing the fields grass, I could see boars and some big insects in the distance.

-What is a beta tester? Elina asked

Wow, you have got to be kidding me.

-By any chance, is this your first MMORPG too? I asked while trying not to be rude

Elina nodded as we kept walking. Daath glanced at me with a confused look.

-My sister got it for me, she said it might pique my interest and maybe it'll make me happy. She said

-Well, a beta tester is a person from a selected group of people chosen to try the game before it comes out. I said

I wonder what kind of person is she, if she is a girl that is. Or a guy…a regular guy please.

-I see, that's very nice of your sister. Well, we are here better teach you how to use your weapons. Daath adds

I unsheathe my sword and place myself in front of a boar. For a low level enemy its eyes are rather intimidating to be honest. Charles looks at me and nods. What are you my master or something? I return my attention to my enemy and get on a battle stance. A whirring sound confirms that I'm charging a sword skill. Great, just like in the beta. I let my body move forwards and jump over the boar. Confused it tries to find me but I quickly slice through him. I sheath my sword and stand proudly for approval as the result screen pops up in-front of me.

-Result-  
-Exp: 20-  
-Col: 15-  
-Items: 0-

-That was amazing! Elina cheers

-It seems you remember from what little I let you play, huh?

-Yeah, I'm one out of one hundred percent beta tester. I reply to Charles

Daath and Charles laugh as Elina stands there confused by what I just said. The swiftness and speed this game grants you is amazing, there is no way I could've done that in real life.

-Are you a beta tester too, Alshep?

I nod in disapproval but I'm quickly interrupted by Charles.

-It so turns out I know this little bugger in real life. We attend to the same school, I let him play a little of my beta version. He says while putting his arm over me and pulling me close to him

-Yeah, haha. I say while pushing Charles off me.

She wows in awe and turns to Daath.

-What about you Daath? Do you know them in real life too?

He smiles and nods a negative.

-No, I only know Charles from the beta period.

Daath and Elina smile to each other as another boar spawns close to us.

-Just a heads up, I asked my sister to disconnect me in an hour or so since we have to go out to buy some stuff. So I'll be leaving you guys then. Reported Charles

I look at the clock, 3:40. Time sure flies in here

-It's your turn Elina, show us what you can do. Says Daath as he bumps Elina forward a little

The poor girl almost falls with the push and readies her sword while shaking a little. She side steps a bit and charges at the boar. With a sword skill she could easily take him out in one hit or two. I guess she isn't that familiar with the system yet. Elina flails at the boar damaging it a little.

-Watch out, it counters after a little! Charles shouts

Elina dumbfounded turn to us leaving her offensive open. Oh boy. The boar hits her knocking her to the ground and depleting quite a bit of her HP.

-Quickly, get up and try a sword skill. Think as if you were about to attack it really hard. Says Daath

Elina gets on her feet and steps back a little before looking at us again. She refocuses and lifts her sword over her head. It lights up as she closes her eyes.

-What in the world is she doing? I mutter

-Focusing. Daath says

The boar takes this as teasing and charges at Elina. This is a lost cause, it's going to hit her again. To my surprise she side steps swiftly before getting hit and slices the boar vertically as it passes next to her.  
The boar turns into light and the results appear before Elina. She jumps in joy and shout out of excitement.

-I did it!

We clap in synch at her success as she hops over to us. She smiles and seems excited of her accomplishment.

-How do I equip an item? She asks

Daath quickly walks her through the inventory screens and tells her how to equip items. Meanwhile I talk with Charles about how much the game amazes me. Soon enough Elina has a new round shield equipped and we continue through the grasslands hunting some boars.

Daath proves to be an experienced player as he kicks a boar off the ground and slices it midair. It's amazing how little limitations this game has as of what you can do. It's simply overwhelming. More time passes by and I'm the only one without any new piece of gear. Elina got another sword and Daath too. Charles is flashing a new coat he got from a wolf.

-So how far did you make it during the beta, Daath? I ask

Charles is teaching Elina how to do a –switch- during battle while I talk with Daath from the sidelines.

-Not very far, I only made it to the fifth floor. Although I did hear some players made it higher than that. He says

We watch as Elina does a successful switch with Charles and kills a boar. That looked nice. As they walk over to us. Charles just bursts into light. Elina jumps from the sudden effect and tumbles on her butt.

-Woah…what the hell was that? I ask

-Hmm…he did say he was going to leave in a while. But that's nothing like the logging out transition. My guess is that they changed it for the full release of the game. Says Daath

-Guys! Guys! What happened to Charles!

-It's nothing Elina, he must've been logged out by his sister. I say

-Oh, alright. What should we do now?

Daath sits down and smiles. We are going to sit? I don't follow you. Elina sits next to him and they both gaze past me as if I were invisible.

-What are you two doing?

Daath extends his arm and points in-front of him

-Look. He says

I turn to a bright beautiful sunset. Clouds subtly over arch the mountains making a beautiful sight along with the floating islands and waterfalls. This…is amazing. I sit and lose myself in the beautiful scenery set before me. I feel the soft grass with my hands and warm touch of the sun in my face.

-This is beautiful. Says Elina

-Yes, it truly is. Replies Daath.

As if rehearsed all three of us exhale loudly. Our moment of peace is abruptly interrupted by loud bells coming from the distance. The ringing is constant and very loud, the sound seems to be coming from the city we exited a few hours ago.

-What is it with that noise? I ask

Daath gets on his feet and helps Elina up.

-If I knew trust me I would tell you. This first day has been very odd, first the log out button is nowhere to be found and now this. None of this happened in the beta.

-Wait, what? There's no log out button? Says Elina

To confirm this as the bells continue, I quickly bring up my menu by swiping my hand in-front of me. I go over the icons and enter in shock as I confirm it.

-What is going o...Elina says as she disappears from our sight in a flash of light.

Light suddenly engulfs me as well and I find myself standing in the plaza where I started playing. Elina is standing just a few feet away from me when Daath suddenly appears between me and her. Looking around a massive group of players has been gathered in the plaza. What in the world is going on?

-They force teleported us here...Daath mutters

Is this some kind of event then? Why gather all of us here? All of the people around us seemed anxious and scared. The atmosphere did make it feel like something bad was about to happen. The bells come to a sudden stop and the chatter from players does too. Elina gasps as she points to a red figure in the sky.

-System Announcement-

The figure slowly started to replicate, it soon covered all the sky with impressive speed and things took a turn to the bizarre. The sky started dripping a gooey red liquid. It's looked like blood at first. Gross and unsettling, but it slowly started to take form.

It finally formed something recognizable. It looked like a man in red robes. It was gigantic, it had this omnipotent feeling to it. It slowly moved its arms up and spoke.

-_Players, Welcome to my world. I am Kabaya Akihiko. I'm the only person currently in control of this world._

-That's him, he created SAO. Said Daath

I was baffled by what was happening, its presence was too much, too big, too powerful for me to just overlook.

-_I hope you have already noticed the log out button is missing from the main menu. This, is not a game malfunction._

How is it not a game malfunction?! We are supposed to be able to log in and out freely. People all around me open their menus and seemed shocked. I guess they didn't check it earlier either…

_-I repeat. This is not a malfunction, but an original feature of Sword Art Online. You cannot log out of SAO on your own and no one in the real world will be able to remove or shut down your NerveGear._

-That's bullshit, Charles was able to log out just fine a bit ago. I say

Daath and Elina both nod at me and turn to Akihiko quickly.

_-Should this be attempted, the transmitter inside the NerveGear will emit a powerful burst microwaves destroying your brain and thus ending your life._

My legs went numb and I kneeled slowly, I felt sick, really sick. There's no way, Charles is still alive, there's no way he is dead.

-That isn't true…is it? Elina asks

-I…I don't know. Daath replies

_-Unfortunately, the friends and families of several players ignored this and have attempted to remove the NerveGear. As a result, 213 players have permanently retired from both Aincrad and the real world._

In a fit of angry I punch the floor.

-No! There is no way, you are lying! I yell

_-As you can see, news organizations around the world are reporting this incident, and its many deaths. Thus, you can assume the danger of having your NerveGear removed to be greatly reduced. So, please relax and work hard to clear the game._

-Let us out! You are lying! Someone shouted.

_-However, do take note of this. You can no longer respawn in this game. If your HP reaches zero your avatar will be permanently deleted and at the same time…the NerveGear will fry your brain._

What..? Around me people were panicking, I heard crying and shouts of agony.

_-You need only fulfill one condition to set yourselves free…clear the game. You are cuyrrently on the first floor, the lowest level of Aincrad. Make your way through each dungeon and defeat the Floor Boss, and you will advance to the next floor. Defeat the final boos on the one hundredth floor, and you will clear the game._

Is this guy for real? The beta testers didn't even make it to the 10th floor in one month.

_-And finally, you can find a gift from me in your item storage. Please, do check for yourselves._

And there it was, right in the inventory. A gift from Akihiko himself, labeled as "mirror" somewhat hesitant I clicked on it. A literal pocket mirror appeared before me. Glancing around me I saw a lot of people taking it out as well. Lifting it up to my face I could see it reflecting my avatar's face. What the hell is this supposed to mean? Suddenly people started shouting as they were surrounded by bright light. Scared, I turned around to Daath and Elina just before they were blurred by the light. I was blinded myself for a moment as the same happened to me. The shouts of fear didn't stop it felt as if people already started to die.  
The light cleared up after what felt like an eternity and I rubbed my eyes to try and make things clearer. I couldn't spot Daath or Elina anymore. Where could've they gone?

-Al-Alshep? Said a blonde skinny guy in front of me

-What? How do you know me?

-Your gear...its colors they are like Alshep's. You are Alshep, no? It's me, Daath.

No fucking way. I was panicking I looked at my hands and then at my clothes. This isn't my avatar. It's...it's me. The real me! What happened?

-What happened to my avatar? I asked

-It changed mine to how I look in real life. I think...it took the calibration data and replaced the avatars. He replies

No way this can't be happening. It took me a bit to realize, but I guess he was right. Just looking around I was able to see players freaking out, touching their faces and bodies in shock. I saw guys in girl's clothes and girls in male attires. This can't be happening.

-Where's Elina? I ask

Daath was about to speak when our attention was caught by what sounded like a little girl crying and sobbing. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. A little brown haired girl with a purple cloak was sitting on the ground crying.

-Elina...? Daath asked

The little girl brought her tear filled face up and looked at me and Daath. She appeared confused but her tears stopped flowing.

-Alshep? Daath?

How old was she? She didn't appear older than my 15 year old cousin now. This game is rated 14+ why would she be here? Then again...no one really cares about ratings when it comes to games nowadays. Daath helped her to her feet and she stood behind him, scared and shaking.

_-All of you must be wondering why. Why would Kabaya Akihiko, the creator of SAO and the NeveGear, do all this? My goal has already been achieved. I wanted to create a world that I could observe and admire this is why I made Sword Art Online._

-Are you trying to play god?!

I looked at Daath who just yelled his lungs out. His face was filled with anger and rage. However Kabaya didn't stop talking. He just kept going.

_-And now, it has all been fulfilled. This ends the tutorial of Sword Art Online's launch. I wish every player…the best of luck._

With that he dissolved slowly into thin air.

I heard nothing for a moment and then the sudden crash of something on the ground, followed by a girl's scream. And then, all hell broke loose. Shouting, screaming, crying. It was chaos. I suddenly felt someone pulling me up. It was Daath.

-Grab Elina and follow me. Don't fall behind.

He said that with a straight face, no emotion I instinctively grabbed the little girl's hand and started running behind Daath. I might've been forceful but I acted on impulse. Daath stopped after running far apart from the plaza. The streets were dark and there was no noise to be heard. He took a deep breath and turned to us.

-Look, there's this room where you respawned during the beta. I refuse to believe Charles is dead. Let's go there. Maybe we'll find some sort of clue.

Elina started crying again and dropped to her knees. Daath quickly got on his and got close to her.

-This was supposed to be fun! I don't want to die! She cried

Daath put his hands on her shoulders and shook her gently.

-Listen, you need to hold yourself together alright? I promise you won't die. But please, you have to be strong. Everything will be alright.

I stared while he tried to calm the little child, I felt hopeless. There was so much information my mind was still trying to process. What if my brother, or my brother ripped the NerveGear off my head. I would die. With no voice or choice in the matter, just like that. Dead.

Elina stopped crying and got on her feet. Daath smiled and then returned to his serious face.

-Alright, we'll have to head back to the Black Iron Castle. If I remember correctly the Room of Resurrection should be there.

I nodded and followed as he started walking. I've gotten quite some walking distance before I noticed Elina wasn't with us. Turning my head back was enough to spot her. She was look straight ahead with teary eyes. Without thinking I extended my arm and beckoned her over.

-Come on, it's ok. I said

She placed her arm ahead of her and started walking towards me until she reached my hand. I could tell she was holding onto my hand tightly. We continued walking until we went across the main plaza again. It was mostly empty just a few groups of people. Constant sobbing could be heard, except this time it wasn't Elina.

Daath walked confidently in-front of us and without hesitation. Elina let go of my hand and placed herself between me and Daath.

-You two ok? Daath asks

-Yeah. I reply

-Y…yes. Says Elina

-Good, we are almost there. He says

Daath leads us through the door of a black castle and into a dim lighted corridor with what looked like a big black tablet on the back.

-That big stone wasn't there during the beta. Says Daath

-You sure this is the right place? I ask

Elina wanders deeper into the corridor and reaches the stone. As if she were looking for something.

-Yes, I'm completely sure. This is the room of resurrection.

-Monument of Life. Says Elina

With that the big stone lights up and display what appear to be words. I get closer and notice they are actually names. They are placed in alphabetical order all over the stone. I look around and quickly find mine in the first bunch.

-What is this thing? I mutter

-It's showing the character names…Daath follows

Elina goes along the tablet and stops near the middle. She gasps and clicks something. Daath goes over to her and I follow out of curiosity. What I see takes the air out of my lungs as I stand back clenching my fists really tight.

-No, this can't be. Says Daath

Elina drops to her knees and starts crying again. Daath get close to her and tries to calm her again.

-Please, come on. Please stop crying, it'll be alright I promise.

-Why are you sugar coating this shit? I say

Daath looks at me and Elina stop crying as I say that. Daath's seems annoyed as he stands up.

-Don't you get it? That bastard was right, if we die here that's it. Game Over. If we die here, we'll die for real!

Elina gathers strength to get up and stands behind Daath.

-I was just trying to make someone feel a little better asshole. Daath replies.

-What point is there? You don't even know her.

He looks behind him and put his hand on Elina's shoulder.

-She is in my party. He replies

I try to hold my frustration in and clench my fists tighter.

-And so are you. He adds

Suddenly I relax and look straight and him and Elina

-Now, I have a plan and I don't mind taking you two along. If anything it'll make things easier. And I guarantee you, we will survive. You have to trust me.

I stare at the ground and stay silent. After a bit Daath walks behind me as Elina follows him slowly. Elina stops next to and Daath continues walking until he reaches the end of the hallway. I feel something tugging my hand.

-Please come with us…She says

I look up and see Elina, she is trying to hold back tears and so I am I. I don't know what to do.

-Are you coming as well, Alshep?

-Yeah…I…I'm sorry.

Elina walks away and I walk behind her. Daath turns around and heads for the exit along with her. I stop at the end of the hallway and turn to the lit up stone. I feel tears run down my face as I remember what I saw on it. I won't give up man. I'll make it back…That's a promise.

-Charles-  
-Disconnection-  
-5:15 PM-  
-November 6, 2022-

* * *

Crysina here, well that was the first chapter of what I expect to be a long running saga. I do want to give it a proper development climax and ending, so expect to see a lot of me around here. Once or twice a week. It all depends on my schedule, but do expect weekly updates. So what did you think? Good? Bad? I accept all kinds of reviews and feedback, don't be shy I don't bite.

Thank you for taking the time to read. See ya soon.


	2. Chapter 2 - Under The Night Sky

**Chapter 2.- Under The Night Sky**

**Daath**

A million thoughts were going through my mind. Why would Akihiko do something like this? Why trap us all in a game of death? Why did I choose to play today? I had other things to do. I could've done my homework, I could've gone out with my little sister to see that movie she wanted. I could've done…so many things. But here I was, finding out a friend I met last month has just recently…retired from the world of the living. It was all too much for me to handle properly so I tried to assume the role of a leader. Something I'm really not fit for. I never stood out at school, I was never head of class. Yet here I am, asking two strangers to trust me with their lives.

"What is your plan?" Elina asks me

"Well, first of the list is to wait for the big guy." I reply

"Big guy? You mean…That's a little mean, Daath." She says

"I apologize, he got in my nerves a little back there."

She turns her head down. I think even she understands Alshep's little play back there was uncalled for. What annoyed the most was his attitude, for a second I thought he just threw all hope out of the window. Elina is thirteen, fourteen years tops. And I have this guy screaming how we are all going to die. He really did get on my nerves.

"Sorry, I just feel sick right now." Says Alshep as he comes out of the castle's door

And I just feel a little sick of you.

"So, what's the plan?" He asks

I started to think about things just then. All I said in the now renamed "Monument of Life" was out of the blue, to keep our hopes up.

"Starting city is done for, I think it's actually dangerous to stay here. I think our best bet is Tolbana Town but we'll have to get to Horunka Village first."

"What?" They say in synch

Focus…these two aren't beta testers.

"Tolbana is the largest town after this one, we could stay there for a while. It's safe, it has inns shops and food. But, if we want to make it there we'll have to stop at Horunka village to rest and stock up."

That was a lie, Tolbana and Horunka are almost opposite directions. But there is something that might help us in Horunka. Other than just shops and potions, I'm looking for a sword in particular.

"So, you want to take us through the grasslands? Isn't that dangerous?" Alshep asks

"Not if you are with me, I know this place well."

Partly, it is true. It is dangerous to go to Horunka this early but, with a party of three I doubt it'll be much trouble. If we stick to the road we'll only encounter boars and some wolves, it is if we deviate to the forest that we'll maybe face trouble.

"Fine, where to then?" He says

"We need to go out of the city and northeast from there. This place is as big as your common prefecture so it'll still take us a bit to get to Horunka." I reply

Alshep sighs and looks around a bit. I didn't notice until he took a look around, but it was almost pitch dark, for some reason the street lights weren't on yet. This bothered me a little since it was quite hard to see at night with no lights in SAO.

"It's getting dark…I don't like dark…" Elina mutters

Starting town sold everything you needed to start playing SAO properly. It made sense to get some stuff quickly before heading out to Horunka. Maybe get a few potions, a lamp and if we have enough to go around some armor.

"Alright then, follow me. Stay close." I order

I started heading to the main road out of the city with Alshep and Elina following me. An eerie feeling dropped on me suddenly as I walked. Never before, not even during the beta did I feel so grounded to Sword Art Online. Something that I played for leisure and enjoyment suddenly became a prison. The feeling in my feet as I walked, the cold air of the night, it never felt so real. SAO became my reality and there was nothing I could do about it.

"You sure you want to keep going straight? A large group of players seems to be ahead." Says Alshep

I stop and turn to my left just a bit before reaching the lake in-between the city gates and the main plaza. I stop near a small shop and wait for my partners to catch up.

"How much col do you guys have?" I ask

Almost at the same time they bring up their menus. I do the same since I don't remember how much I'm currently carrying.

"I have four hundred and sixty eight." Says Alshep

"I…I have three hundred and five." Says Elina

"Ok, and with me we have a total of one thousand one hundred and thirty two." I say

The street lights suddenly turn on and the vendor behind me comes out of her house. We must make haste now that the city is running again we need to buy and get out of here as soon as possible.

"I'll buy a lamp and some armor. Elina, buy three potions and armor for yourself, you should have enough. Al, get some armor as well and save the rest maybe we'll need it later." I say firmly

Expecting some backfire from this I look at Alshep as he approaches the street vendor. He says nothing nor looks at me. Good. I turn myself and open the shops menu. I go through the items and find what I'm looking for quickly.

-Starter Oil Lamp: 50Col-  
-Hard Leather Coat: 145Col-  
-Total: 195Col-  
-Buy- -Cancel-

I press the buy button and open my menu to equip the coat. Light envelops my upper body and a brown long coat appears over the starter clothes. My sheath strap goes over it as it appears on my body. Elina equips herself with two shoulder plates that stay beneath her cloak and Alshep purchased gauntlets that go up to his shoulders.

"Ok, you guys ready? We are going to run now." I say

They nod and I turn around, and head to a side street to avoid the main road. We are better off not running into players right now. I maybe over reacting but if even beta testers went crazy with PK-ing I don't want to see how a crowd of stressed people reacts. Even if you can't PK inside a town or city, I don't want to risk it. At our pace we reach the city gates quickly and with no problems. I stop to catch my breath.

"Is that Horunka?" Elina asks as she points to dim lights in the distance.

"Great guess, that's exactly it." I say

She smiles and starts walking a bit in-front of me. Alshep walks past me and trails behind the girl. I start walking and bring up my menu to equip the lantern. The item materializes in front of me and starts shining brightly. It only lights up so much but it'll give us some idea of where we are walking. Elina gasps and runs to me.

"Thank god, I thought we were going to walk through in the dark." She says

"He did mention he was getting a lamp." Alshep adds

"Are you always this cynical?" I question

He looks away and keeps walking. I look at Elina who is looking at him and our eyes meet for a moment before she sets them on the road. She doesn't seem to dislike this man but I'm not sure if we'll be able to stay together for long.

"Stop." Says Alshep as he unsheathes his sword.

He places it in front of him as he charges a sword skill. What is he doing? There shouldn't be any enemies so close to the city. To my surprise a group of red shining eyes suddenly become visible in front of Alshep. Wolves…crap. I handed the lamp over to Elina and told her to keep her weapon ready. I reach to my back and unsheathe my sword as I get close to Alshep.

"Why aren't they attacking?" He asks

"They are examining our group." I whisper

I ready a sword skill as I get next to him.

"Should we take initiative then?" He says

"I don't think they might be too hard, how many did you count?"

"Four." He replies

He looks at me and we nod to each other. I let go and the sword quickly connect me with a fatal blow to one of the wolves. I see Alshep do the same and quickly dispatches of a wolf as well. Well at least he compensates on being battle proficient. The next wolf rapidly approaches me and I kick it to my left. Lifting my sword I stab the ground through it and kill the wolf. I see a flash of light close to Alshep confirming he killed the other one.

"Is that it? "I shout

He nods and sheathes his sword. This is bad…there's no result screen. I turn to the small spot of light with Elina in the middle and see two small red dots treading behind her.

"Elina! Behind you!"

I see her turn around quickly but the wolf lunges over her faster than I expected. Elina starts screaming as the wolf bites and scratches her. I start running but I fear I might not be quick enough. The wolf tears through her cloak and keeps attacking her. Suddenly the wolf bursts into light and I reach the spot. I frightened Elina lies before me with a sword at hand and a scared face.

"Are you ok?!" Alshep asks as he arrives.

The result screen pops up but I quickly discard it as I get on my knee. Her HP reached red and was just a few more scratches away from saying goodbye. I grab her shoulder and shake her lightly. She directs her sword to me and swipes quickly with it.

"Get away!" She screams

"Calm down, ok? You are ok. Take one of the potions and get on your feet alright?" I say gently

She puts away her weapon and stands. Just out of the city and she was already about to die. I can't help but to feel responsible and apologize to her a couple of time before we keep going to Harunka. I couldn't help but to picture my sister when I saw her. They didn't look alike but it was the fact that she was young and frightened that made me think of my sister.

A few minutes of walking were all it took to make Starting City look like tiny dots of light in the distance. Harunka became a little clear as we walked but it was still a bit away from us. In the distance I could see a spot of light moving quickly to Horunka. Perhaps it's another player? If it was, it had to be a beta tester. I don't think any new players would think of heading out of Starting City this soon. Let alone visit Horunka when Tolbana is closer to Starting City.

"I feel I'm close to level two." Alshep says

"Oh yeah, that reminds me. How do I know when I'm going to level up?" Elina asks

"Well, there isn't really anything in the UI that tells you how close you are. Like Al said, you just…well, feel it."

It took a few hours to reach level two in the beta, a couple more to reach three. It was after level eight when it really felt like it took days. As we got closer to Horunka, enough to be able to see a couple of buildings another pack of wolves appeared on our right side. I was readying my sword when Elina pressed the lamp against my side.

"Let me…try." She mumbles

Unsure and almost unwillingly I took the lamp as she walked towards the wolves with Alshep on her side. Al unsheathed and so did her along with her shield. With a sword skill on the ready he attacks the first wolf, killing it in one swift blow he backs up and quickly prepares for the next one. Elina charged at the wolf closest to her, with incredible strength, she hit it to the ground with her shield, she then stabbed it two times while it was down. I was impressed, the sudden change of attitude was drastic. She looked fierce and determined in battle. After they were done with the pack again the result screen didn't show up. I placed the lamp on the ground and unsheathed my sword as I saw a big pair of eyes in front of my party.

"We got a pack leader! Be ready!" I yell

Alshep and Elina start walking back to me with their weapons ready. Alshep naively attacked head-on and was able to graze the big wolf.

"Yeah! We can tak-" He was interrupted as the leader sent him flying several feet away from me.

"Elina, do you remember how to switch?" I ask

She nods and I charge at the wolf. He swipes at me with its paw but I dodge it and am able to connect a few hits at its chest. I jump back and look at Elina.

"Switch!"

She immediately jumps in with a sword skill and does a three hit combo on the beast's side. She sides steps and looks back at me.

"Switch!" She yells

Looking carefully at the beast I ready a sword skill and wait for it to lunge at me. It takes my bait and it jumps at me. I barely manage to side step around it and slash vertically with my sword charged. I see Alshep on the corner of my eye rushing at the wolf with his sword up. I look at him and nod as he does the same.

"Go for it! Switch!" I scream

He growls as he runs and jumps to the wolf's face.

"Take this!"

He slashes its face and lands on his feet as he watches it topple in-front of him. The result screen appears before me.

-Result-  
-Exp: 132-  
-Col: 312-  
-Items: 0-

I look up at my health bar and see that I leveled up. Well, that's a start.

"Woohoo! Got a rare sword!" Shouts Alshep

He equips it in his hand, a long slick blade with fur on the crossguard. Elina is jumping out of joy and starts to head for the lamp that I set on the ground.

"Hey Alshep!" I say

He turns to look at me just as Elina arrives behind me with the lamp. I extend my arm and give him a thumbs up.

"Great job, man." I yell

He sheathes his sword and walk over to us. Just as he is about to meet us he raises his hand above his head.

"You did well too" He says

I smile and meet his hand with mine for a high-five. It has got to be the most satisfying high-five I've ever received. We managed to beat a mid-level boss, and we did it in an extraordinary manner. He turns to Elina and ruffles her hair a bit.

"You did well too. I saw it all." He exclaims

Elina blushes and pushes away his hand but then giggles. I can't help but to smile at that and feel good about this journey so far.

"And here I thought you two wouldn't get along." I say

They both look at me and laugh a little. They stop and look at each other before laughing a little more. I join in the little laugh and then start walking towards Horunka. Alshep walks up my right and Elina up my left side.

"I uhmm… thought things over. I want to say sorry. You know, about how I acted earlier and stuff." He says

I grin to myself and pat his back.

"It's alright, we are in the same party. I'm sure things will just get harder."

With that Elina turns to her feet and Alshep sighs a little. After all I just keep impressing myself with these n the spot speeches.

"But as long as we stay together. And get stronger. I'm sure, I'm absolutely sure we can stay alive." I add

Elina holds my hand and Al smiles and gives me a pat in the back.

"You sure know what to say." He laughs

If only you knew, if only you knew…

* * *

We finally reached Harunka. I lift my arms and stretch hard. Well that was awfully tiring. Alshep sits on a crate along the wall of one of the first buildings and Elina on the floor next to it.

"Hey! Not that fast! We need to at least get some rooms at the inn." I say

"Ehh? But I'm tired." Says Elina.

Alshep gets up and grabs Elina's arm.

"Come on, he is right. That way I'll characters will be safe." Says Alshep

Well, before that. I think it's time I come clean as to why we came here. I was just about to speak when a player came up running behind me. He stopped, he was heaving, and trying to catch his breath he opened his menu to change swords. It caught my eye, that's exactly the blade I was looking for. This guy beat me to the quest. I'm sure I can still get it though. The player had black hair and looked startled, his clothes were the starter set. A blue shirt along with the standard leather chest piece nothing fancy. He was either very skilled or didn't care to upgrade.

"Hey, are you alright?" Alshep asked

The player looked at us as he sheathed his blade. He said nothing but looked away and started running out of sight.

"Geez…what was that about?" Says Alshep

I sigh as I realize it was time to tell the truth.

"We are not here to resupply." I say trying to hide my face

Al's and Elina's attention found itself centered on me.

"What did you just say?" Alshep says as he stands up

"We are here…for a quest…"

I saw as Al clenched his fist and Elina got up to grab his arm. This little girl may have just spared me a punch in the face.

"Are you freaking kidding me right now? We almost died outside of town for a stupid quest?!"

I nodded and looked away.

"Look, this will help us. We'll get stronger and the item we'll get will spare us a lot of trouble." I say

He growls at me and turns around. Elina looks worried and stands between me and him.

"Ok, fine…whatever. Where to?" He says

Elina stares at me with a pouting face and for some reason it makes me feel horrendously bad.

"The NPC is right this way…follow me" I sigh

As they followed me around I felt their eyes stabbing my back. It was almost painful.

* * *

"So we just get this Ovule, huh?" Alshep teases

"Yes." I reply

"You say they drop from these Nepents?" He continues

"Yes." I say

"The ones that have these flowers on their head?" He adds

"Yes" I say frustrated

"He already explained this in the village Al!" Says Elina

"Thank you." I say

This guy sure knows when to be an ass and when to be the nicest person in the world. It had been a bit since we left the village and headed into the woods to find the Nepents. We'll be searching for regular ones at first, but if we spotted one with a red flower we were to defeat it quickly and return to the village since it would drop the item we needed to complete the quest. Absolutely for no reason we should attack a Nepent with fruit on its head. The result of that…could be deadly.

"There." Elina whispered while pointing to a Nepent.

"Good eye. We should be careful. These things are a level higher than we are. Since we are three it shouldn't be much trouble. But still, be careful and watch out for the ones with fruit." I say

We all nod at each other and approach the Nepent carefully. We all ready or weapons and get separated around the enemy.

"Now!" Elina shouts as she closes in to attack

She hits it four times before yelling "switch" for Alshep to step in. He charges at the Nepent and slices quickly through it. To my surprise his attack kills it and the enemy disappears.

"Wow this sword sure is something." He says to himself

"Don't let your guard down just now, we are just getting started." I say

We continue our battle through the forest with no luck in finding a Flower Nepent. We collect Col and Exp like nobody's business but still, to no avail. Elina acquired a new shield and I got some shoulder plates. Al finds another sword but refuses to use since his "Wolf Blade" is better.

"How many more do we have to kill? I'm already level three here." Alshep says

"I don't know. It's bound to be here somewhere, just a little more come on." I reply

"Oh! There look! It's one with a flower!" Alshep shouts

I turn around and spot it as it spawns behind us. Sweet, just in time. Now, to cut it down.

"Attack!" I shout

Alshep goes in with a skill and slices the Nepent sideways. He makes it stagger and opens it for another attack.

"Switch." He says

Elina jumps and hits it hard with her shield making it step back.

"Switch!" She yells

I read a sword skill and run towards the enemy. I quickly avoid it as it tries to get me with its mouth. With the flower at ground level I take my chance and attack its stem which is coming right out of the monster's head. My sword quickly cuts through and the Nepent bursts into pieces. The battle result pops up andI acquire the item we were looking for.

"Was that it?" Elina asks

I nod and look at my inventory.

-Little Nepent's Ovule-

We put away our weapons and start walking towards Harunka Village again.

"Well that didn't take long whatsoever." Says Al

"Are you really like this all the time?" I reply

He starts laughing and pushes me playfully as we walk. We reach Horunka again and meet with the NPC who gave us the quest.

"Thank you so much, I am forever in your debt. Please, take this as a token of my gratitude."

Since we were a party it only gave us one item. We talked about it and decided I should keep it since Alshep liked his current sword and Elina said she liked short swords better. I went through my equipment and changed my sword for Anneal Blade. I unsheathed it to take a look at it. A grip of a simple design; the blade started out narrow then widened and then became narrow and widened again before becoming straight , it looked better than it did on the beta.

"So that's the sword huh?" Al asks

I nod and put it away as we walk down Horunka Village.

"Can we go to the inn now?" Elina asks with tired eyes

"Of course, but…it isn't really an inn." I say

We walk to an NPC house and I knock on the door gently. An old woman comes out to greet us.

"Excuse me, do you have any rooms for rent?" I ask

She nods and lets us into her home. She explains her price is 40 Col a night per room. We decide to stay there and rest up for the coming day. We are given access to our respective rooms and we wave each other good night.

In my room I switch to town clothing and lay myself on the bed. This day was tiring. Having to sleep in a game…it doesn't feel right. I wonder for a brief moment what is of my unconscious body back in the real world. Is my family ok? Do they know what happened to me? How is my sister doing? These are questions I won't have an answer for in a while. I roll to my side and close my eyes, but I receive a message.

-From: Elina  
-To: Daath, Alshep  
-Subject: -  
-Message: I just remembered we'll have to sleep in this world…

She is right…as of now there's no way around it.

-From: Alshep  
-To: Daath, Elina  
-Subject: Reply  
-Message: I know it's hard but just try not to think about. Ignorance is bliss.

This guy I'm telling you. He has the weirdest mood swings. But in the end he is a nice guy. I feel like I've bonded with these two today.

-From: Elina  
-To: Daath, Ashep  
-Subject: Reply  
-Message: I guess you are right…Well…good night you two. See you in the morning.

-From: Alshep  
-To: Daath, Elina  
-Subject: Reply  
-Message: Good night.

I could've done so many things today…so many things.

-From: Daath  
-To: Alshep, Elina  
-Subject: Reply  
-Message: Good night…

* * *

Hiya guys! Crysina here, I decided I should change the updating methodd I had in mind. I'll be posting chapters as fast as I get the next one ready. This being for example: I have chapter three done already, but I'll be posting it until I have chapter 4 ready. This will probably happen on a weekly basis or even shorter who knows. Haha

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it. See ya later!


	3. Chapter 3 - Netiquette

**Chapter 3.- Netiquette**

**Three weeks later: 26-November-2022**

**Alshep**

"That's the last of them." Says Daath as he puts away his sword.

The result screen appears and I dismiss it without looking. I'm too tired to give a damn. I sheathe my sword and sit on the grass.

"I just reached level eight." Says Elina.

"Good for you." I say as I lay on my back.

She gives me her usual pouty face and sits next to me. The sky is starting to break red from the sunset and I close my eyes for a brief moment. Wind brushes by and the grass moves around me. I'm starting to get sick of it.

"Don't you think this blows?" I mutter.

"Hmm, what does?" Elina asks.

"You know, the wind, the grass, the sun. It's starting to feel…off. I don't know how to explain it." I reply.

I hear Daath sigh as he gets closer to us.

"Goddammit man, I thought we were done talking about this." He says.

"Well I'm bringing the topic back. Why does it all just feel weird?"

Elina sighs too and holds her legs close to her. We talked about this a few days back in the inn we are staying at in Tolbana. SAO is a game after all, however detailed it may be I can't get accustomed to it as my reality. It bothers me greatly. Whatever I found exciting and amusing about SOA at first I know find disturbing and weird. As far as I know my body is lying on a bed somewhere. I am perhaps being fed someway, haven't felt hunger or thirst since a little after the second day. Yet I want to eat, I want to drink, and I want to take a bath.

The NerveGear stimulates the senses, this means I can taste, feel, smell, hear, etc. I can taste food but, it's not going to my belly it's not feeling me up as it should. I just get that brief moment of glee when my taste buds are stimulated. I can drink water but it only does the same as food. Don't get me started on baths or showers. Daath explained last week when Elina wanted to take a bath that the only problem with the NerveGear and SAO have with water was its accuracy when trying to replicate the feeling of it. It turns out weird. Elina explained a feeling different to mine. But I just felt as if I submerged myself on some gooey liquid. Hence, I have not bathed or taken a shower since then. It's not like I smell or anything, thankfully the game doesn't really give me any body odor.

"It feels weird because you keep reminding us it feels weird." He says.

I shut my mouth up and open my menu. My sword is losing durability as well as my upper armor. I have enough Col to either buy new armor or repair the current one. I haven't gotten too interested in enhancements since I really don't know how they work and I don't know any blacksmiths.

"He doesn't have to remind us for it to feel…weird." Elina mumbles.

"Great, now you got her all mellow again." Daath grunts.

"It's not his fault…" She says.

I sit up and look around as the sun starts to hide completely. It's almost time to start heading back to the inn. We've come up with a little routine in the last days. It consists of: Waking up, if you even had the luck of falling asleep. Then meeting in the first floor of the inn for breakfast, which is also optional. Elina always has something to eat, Daath has bread once in a while and I recently just started skipping meals completely. It's not like I feel hungry anyways. I've also recently become a more bitter man than I already was. I have been asked several times to tone down my sarcasm and to try to be a little friendlier to Elina. I have nothing against her, she is nice to me and I'm just nice to her in my own way. Daath would surely kick me out of the group if I showed him how I treat people I don't care about. After breakfast we go out to hunt a little, it keeps our senses keen and trained but it gets a little boring after a while. Later on we tackle some quests or just go exploring to see if there's something we've missed in the last week or so.

If we find nothing else to do for the rest of the day we go around town. We actually just walk and talk till the day breaks. It is then, back to the inn. Rinse and repeat.

I get on my feet and stretch my arms. Elina gets up as well and looks at Daath and then she looks at me for a few seconds. She does this whenever she wants to say something. I little habit of hers I've picked up on.

"Is it ok if we hunt a little longer?" She asks.

"Huh? Why? You usually just want to head back to the inn." I say.

"Well, I…I don't want to sleep." She says in a low voice.

"Great job, idiot." Daath says to me.

"No no…It's not his fault. I just haven't got used to it. It just doesn't feel right. The sheets and the pillows I hate them. I don't like it." She adds.

Is it just that really? I haven't been able to sleep some nights but, it isn't because of the bed. It's just because it is when we go to bed that I start thinking about what the hell is going on with my body in the real world.

"Fine fine, we can hunt a little more." Says Daath as he starts walking more into the forest.

I start following him when I feel Elina tugging my arm.

"Please, don't get him grumpy." She whispers.

"Sorry, I can't help but to voice what I feel sometimes."

She starts walking and we both match our pace to follow Daath from a few feet away.

"I know, I've noticed. And you are a little rude sometimes too. It's just that if he gets grumpy, then you get grumpy and then I just get caught up in the middle of it. I don't like it." She says.

That makes me feel bad and I scratch my head as I nod. Apparently I do have to seriously start watching how I talk.

"You know, you are like a big…little sister, if that makes any sense." I say as I pat her head.

I can't help but to think of what she said earlier about the bed and just go ahead and ask what I got in mind.

"What's the real reason you don't want to go to sleep?"

She looks at her feet and we walk silently for a few seconds.

"Well?" I pressure.

"I find it hard, it's impossible for me to sleep unless I'm exhausted. Otherwise I just stay up all night thinking. It's scary sleeping in this world."

Damn, I should really learn when to shut up.

"There's a pack of wolves up ahead." Daath says.

I take out my sword and pat Elina on her head again.

"I'm sorry, I don't like it either. I don't like anything about this world right now. But it's where we live in right now. I'll make and effort….if you do so too." I say.

She smiles at me and takes out her shield and sword.

"Ok." She says in a cheery tune.

We start running to Daath and go past him with our weapons ready. Taking on wolves has become something trivial. Insects, worms and some of the enemies deeper into the forest are the ones that give us a tough time now. I remember the first day a little pack of wolves was enough to almost get us killed. I myself had about two near death encounters so far. One against a bunch of wolfs that took us by surprise and another when I accidently attacked a Little Nepent with a fruit on its head. Daath was more than right, it was deadly to do so. It attracts a massive group of the things and it nearly got us killed. That night was also when Elina had a bit of nervous breakdown. She didn't stop crying and kept begging for her mom. Thankfully that was just a minor bump in the road and we were able to move on rather quickly.

I strike a wolf and kill it with a single attack, another one jumps at me but I slice it up before it even got the chance to touch me. Elina has gotten a liking to hitting with her shield and then attacking her enemy with quick swipes of her sword. She has shown a strong defense in the past days and it made me consider trying a shield. I found myself not being good with coordination so I have postponed that, indefinitely.

"This is getting too easy." I say while striking the last wolf near me.

"Don't get too cocky. You never know when we might get overwhelmed." Says Daath as he kicks a wolf out of the way.

"Why do you two like kicking and hitting so much? Don't your swords do enough damage?" I say as I put my blade away.

"I find it useful, versatile and don't want to only have to rely in my sword in the worst case scenario." He replies.

"My shield is actually part of my weapons, I think it's just second nature to use it." Says Elina.

I scratch my head. I don't even know if hitting is a skill. I know the sword is one by default, one handed or two handed, whichever the player chooses to use. But hitting? I just found it unnecessarily dangerous.

"Anyways, let's keep at this for a while longer. We can head to town afterwards." I say.

After a one or two hours give or take, we started heading back to Tolbana in pitch black darkness. The town seemed lively tonight. Tolbana was a ghost town just a few days ago. Only a handful of players which we later found out were mostly beta testers were there. Other players have just recently started to arrive a few days ago. If it wasn't cause of Daath practically being our mentor, my guess is that Elina and I might just be arriving here as well.

"You forgot the lamp." I huff.

"I'm…I'm sorry we left in a hurry today." Says a little girl clinging to my arm.

"We agreed assigning the lamp to you would make this…issue, pop up less often." Daath says.

"Now even you are picking on me?" She says.

Daath laughs a little and apologizes.

"You are rather clumsy though, there's no denying that." I tease.

"I…I…I just get nervous…th…that's all!"

"And you stutter a whole lot too." Says Daath.

"Wow, leave the teasing to me." I interrupt.

He laughs and then I do too as we enter the town. New players arrive with us and wonder around as we head to the inn.

"A lot of people are starting to get here." Daath sighs. "It's going to get troublesome soon…"

"Why would it?" I ask.

"More people usually means more problems. That's just how it goes." He responds.

"Ok, seriously. Leave the being negative part to me, that's all I've got after you took teasing away from me just now." I joke.

He sighs and gets his serious face going.

"I mean it, if we don't clear this floor soon it'll just get crowded."

"Well what do you expect? They haven't even found the door for the boss. And we don't even go near that maze." I say.

He sighs again and continues walking.

"He's been…very quiet lately…" Elina whispers to me.

I nod. Perhaps something is bothering him but, if something I've learned from the past weeks is that he isn't usually the type to open up and say what's bothering him.

"Let's try to get him to talk tonight." I whisper back.

"Ok. You are going to eat something, no?" She says.

I huff and shake my head sideways quickly as she looks at me.

"Come on! You promised to make an effort." She whines.

I need to learn to keep my damn mouth shut. I take my last few steps into the inn and sit down in the nearest table. The place is filled with people sitting at other tables, there's that chattering noise that I remember from food courts in real life in the background.

"Fine, get me something along with your food."

She giggles and wonders off towards the inn keeper. Daath slowly sits down in-front of and slumps over the table.

"What is it with you lately?" I say while poking his head.

"Ahh….I don't know…" He grunts.

"Is something bothering you?"

He nods sideways and puts his hand over his head to stop my poking.

"How many people do you think have died?" He says out of the blue.

I cough and clear my throat. So that's what he is thinking about. Death.

"Three hundred, four hundred, give or take." I mutter.

"How the fuck can you say that with a straight face?" He comes back.

"Look, as long as it's not us." I say .

He looks at me for a few seconds and then reaches for my shirt's collar to pull me close to him. People in the inn suddenly go silent and start looking at us.

"Did you forget about Charles?! What the hell is wrong with you?!" He yells.

"Don't you even dare to think that for a second." I say as I push him away. "Charles was my friend, I knew him from real life. I went to school with him. But now he is dead! Dead! What do you want me to do about it?!"

He slumps down on his seat and avoids looking at me.

"I don't know what happened to you these past days. You've been acting really weird, man. But if mortality is what's worrying you, I see no point in focusing in it if we are still alive." I say. "And it's all…thanks to you…idiot."

He lifts his head and looks at me, he gives me a smirk. I smile to myself and sit down.

"Oh you are so full of yourse-" I say before getting interrupted.

"Hey, thanks." He says briefly.

"Yeah whatever."

A blushing Elina walks over to us with a tray.

"Geez you two sure know how to make a scene…"

Daath and I apologize in unison. She sets the tray with three bowls on the table and gives me and Daath what appears to be some kind of stew.

"I didn't ask you for food." Daath says.

"I know but you are going to eat tonight because I say so." Elina says quickly.

Daath appears surprised and looks at his bowl as Elina starts to eat. He then looks at me with a confused frown, I can't help but laugh a bit.

"Yeah haha, you better listen to her Daath" I say while laughing.

"Oh, and you too mister." She says as she puts a spoonful of stew in my mouth.

Daath starts laughing loud and hard like a hyena and Elina joins him. Embarrassed by a little girl I hide my face as I swallow the food.

We continue our little late dinner and have a lively chat through the rest of the night. Before we know it its well past midnight and we are still talking in the inn's tables. Only a couple of people are nearby but thankfully they mind their own business.

"Hmm…what would you say is the thing you miss the most of the real world?" I ask.

We have gotten to a point during the dinner where we started talking about our lives back in reality. We didn't go too much into personal stuff nor names but we did get to find out some of each other's likes. Thankfully the question I ask didn't really poke any wounds.

"I think…my doggies." Says Elina. "What about you?"

"Well, I think I'll have to say music. I don't know why the orchestras here just won't play something a little more upbeat" I reply. "What about you, Daath?"

"Hmm…what do I miss the most?" He repeats.

"Yeah, I believe that's what we asked." I say teasingly.

"You promise you won't laugh?" He asks .

Both Elina and I nod anxious for an answer.

"Well, that sensation you got when you peed." He says.

Haha…wow.

"Nastyyy." Elina says.

I start laughing and hit the table a few times.

"That is so true though." I say and keep laughing.

"Aww come on, you can't say you don't miss that, Eli." Says Daath as he pokes her sides.

Elina starts giggling and tries to push Daath away.

"Well, just a bit hehe." She admits.

I smile and sit back a little while I have sip of water. These are the kind of moments that really make me happy in here. They make me forget that I'm trapped, these moments are the ones worth surviving for.

The conversation keeps going for a while longer, so much that I lose track of time. Daath goes to his room but I decide to stay and talk with Elina some more.

"I've been wondering for a while now but, I never knew how to ask." She says softly.

"Hmm? What is it?" I reply.

"How old are you? You seem to be kind of as old as my sister."

"Well I'm sixteen, I'm turning seventeen in just a few days actually. If my memory serves me right that is."

Saying that suddenly makes me a little sad and I look at my empty glass of water. I won't be celebrating my birthday it seems. Unpleasant thoughts of the real world come to mind and I sulk a little.

"Why didn't you mention that earlier?!" She says after taking a bite out of some bread.

"It just didn't seem…important I guess." I grumbled.

She gives me a somewhat stern look and finishes eating her bread.

"Mine…was three days ago."

I widen my eyes in surprise, out of the three of us I thought she would be the only one to never keep something a secret. I thought she would be the one to just say important things like that.

"And here you are getting upset that I didn't tell you." I mutter.

She looks at the ground and then to me, she laughs without meaning it and her smile turns to a small frown.

"I'm fourteen now."

I get up and grab her arm to pull her along with me. She trips a little but quickly matches my speed. I exit the inn and head a little into town to find an equipment shop.

"Hey, what are you doing? Where are we going?" She says, trying to get my hand off her arm.

"Hey, don't fight. I'm trying to do something nice for once." I say while I keep pulling her.

She stops fighting and just follows me at a brisk pace. Arriving at the shop I quickly open the vendor's menu. Elina stands idle behind me, fidgeting around a little.

"Al seriously, what are you doing?"

"You use short swords no? I interrupt "And shields right?"

She nods slowly and I get my attention back to the shop's menu.

-Vorpal Short sword: 1235Col-  
-Azure Buckler: 1056Col-  
-Total: 2291Col-  
-Buy- -Cancel-

It wasn't a cheap price but I think it was ok given the reason. I bought the equipment and selected it out of my inventory to give it to Elina. She takes the sword and shield from my hands and looks straight me.

"F…for me? Really?" She says with a blushing face.

"Happy belated birthday Elina." I say while smiling.

She equips her gifts and gives the sliver blade a few swings, the bluish buckler looks nice and has a really nice circular shape. I just now notice, but the sword has what looks like carvings on the sides. It makes it look great and gives a "legendary" feeling to it. Elina is smiling and giggling while trying out her new gear in the middle of the early morning. Something on the distance catches my eye, a shadowy figure running towards us. I quick look above it and I was able to see an orange cursor over its head.

An orange cursor only means bad things. Daath told us orange cursors are given to players that commit infractions, these being: Stealing, PK-ing or hurting a player outside of a safe area.

"Come here." I say as I pull Eli close to me and hide with her on the alley nearby.

A heaving man runs through the streets but trips as it gets near where we were standing close to the shop. We see the man fall down and Elina gasps. I quickly put my hand over her mouth to avoid any other sound coming out of her.

"Shush." I whisper.

"There he is! Get him!" A voice down the street says.

Two guys and a girl dressed completely in white come running from behind the fallen man. They violently take a hold of him while he tries to get up.

"We got him Klaus!" Shouts the girl.

After the girl says that a man in a fancy white attire and red hair steps into our line of vision. I couldn't help to notice his cursor was the only green out of the 4 people standing in the street.

"Good, take him outside of town. Teach him to never steal from the White Snakes again." He orders.

Elina gets my hand off her mouth and breathes in deeply.

"You have to do something Al." She says .

"It's not my problem, for all I know that guy they are holding is no better than them."

She pushes me deeper into the alley and pouts.

"If you are not going to do something about it, I will."

Dammit Elina. I sigh and grunt loudly as I put her behind me. I take a deep breath and step into the street. I clear my throat loudly and get their attention.

"What are you looking at?" Says the girl.

"Four scumbags." I say.

I have to seriously start thinking before words start coming out of my mouth.

"What did you just say?" Says one of the guys.

"Did I stutter? I said four scumbags!"

The man dressed fancily in the middle starts to laugh and walks past his minions to take a look at me.

"Do you want to get yourself hurt or what?" He yells.

Elina comes out of the alley and stand behind me, I see other people coming up the street on my left. They stand a few feet away, looking curiously at what's happening.

"Leave that guy alone." I yell back.

The man dressed in white man smirks at me and walks closer.

"Are you seriously going to risk your life for a man you don't even know? This guy stole from us, it's only natural for us to carry out punishment." He explains.

I turn to Elina and make sure she understands this is her fault with a frown. She steps back a little and I can hear her say sorry. I wave my hand trying to say it's ok as I look in-front of me.

"I don't give two shits about what that guy did, but you are not going to hurt him." I say as I get closer to the red haired man.

More people start coming out of the inns and pile on the sides and ends of the street. This might actually help me, a crowd might scare this sassy asshole away.

"It looks like we've got a crowd!" He says. "What do you say if I teach them and you not to mess with the White Snakes!"

Well there goes plan B. Thankfully I'm just the kind of guy who doesn't mind getting into a fight.

"Great, that will just make it that much more satisfying when I kick your teeth in." I reply.

People around us start to talk and mutter to each other.

"Are they really going to fight? In the middle of town?"

The apparent leader of the White Snakes makes a disgusted frown and takes out his sword. He places red looking sword with a jagged blade in-front of him. As soon as he gets on a stance I receive a duel confirmation. The type of duel reads "Half Loss Mode".

"You and me chubby man! First to lose half of their HP loses!" He growls.

"Fine by me flame head." I say as I confirm the duel.

"The name is Klaus." He says.

A timer with sixty seconds appear on top of us along with our names separated by the letters "VS".

-Klaus VS Alshep-

"I never meant for you to go this far! Even in this kind of duel you can die!" Elina cries behind me.

As they timer clocks down I turn around put my hand on her shoulder trying to reassure her.

"This is me doing something." I say softly.

She looks at me and nods as I reach for my sword. I unsheathe it slowly, trying to take advantage of every intimidation technique I've ever heard of.

-10-  
-9-  
-8-

The others player around were literal bystanders, no one said anything nor did anything to stop this. This kind of disgusts me and angers me greatly. I recall just minutes ago I was doing the same. But it's different when there's just one person as to when there are about twenty.

-3-  
-2-  
-1-

Klaus lets out a battle cry and starts running towards me. Thanks to the amazing teachings from Daath himself I remember something he did a couple of days ago when fighting some worms near the forest. As Klaus gets closer I sheathe my sword quickly. Everyone gasps around me and Klaus just give me a shit eating grin. When he is about two feet away from me I kick dirt up from the floor to disturb his sight. As soon as he closes his eyes from the dirt I step forwards and punch him straight in the face, knocking him to the ground. The feeling of punching was new, I never tried it before, but it sent a satisfying wave of pleasure up my spine.

People gasp and cheer accordingly as I stand unscathed above him. That didn't do much damage to his hit points but I'm sure his self-esteem is way below zero right now. He grunts on the floor and tries to get up but I place my boot on his chest as I take out my sword.

"Please. You can end it here, Klaus." I say.

He growls and moves under my boot trying to reach for his sword that landed just a few inches away from his hand. I slowly bring the end of my blade to his throat.

"Don't let this turn ugly, give up the duel."

He tries to free himself a bit longer and finally realizes it won't get him anywhere. With anger he brings up a screen and gives up the duel with a click.

-Winner: Alshep!-

People start screaming and cheering as they start to get close to me. I sheathe my weapon and feel as Elina hugs me from behind. Klaus gets on his feet and avoids looking my way. The man that was being held breaks free and starts running in the opposite direction of Klaus's minions. With a big smile he runs towards me and hugs me wildly.

"Thank you so much, damn if it wasn't cause you showed up. I could be dead right now." He says as he lets go.

"That was amazing Al!" Elina says.

I smile calmly and look as Klaus disappears into town with his partners. I reach for the orange cursor player's arm and shake him.

"Don't steal from guilds idiot, not again. You might not get lucky next time." I scold.

He nods quickly about 8 times and smiles before running away jumping in glee. I turn to Elina in the midst of the cheering crowd and smile as she does the same. I start making my way through the crowd with her when I receive a message.

From: Daath  
To: Alshep  
Subject:-  
Message: Nicely done, quite the show.

I look at the inn from afar and see Daath peeking out the window with his thumb up in the air. I give him a thumbs up too and walk towards the building with Elina. We make our way in and head for the stairs to get up to our rooms.

"Th…thank you Al." She says shyly.

I turn around as I'm about to reach the door to my room.

"It's ok, no need to thank me." I say.

"No, really. I mean it, thanks for everything today." She says with a big smile "I'm sure I'll be able to sleep well tonight."

Hearing her say that makes me glad I did what I did.

"I'm glad to hear that." I say as I open my door "You know where to find me if you need anything." I add as I walk in.

Before closing my door I see her blush and nod at me.

"See you tomorrow! Good night!" She says as she disappears into the hallway.

I close the door and sit on my bed. I take out my sword and quickly examine it. Its durability and sharpness reached a dangerous low after we were out hunting all the evening. If I had used it in the duel I would've fought with a dull blade on its breaking point.

I change my clothes to something less heavy and lay on my back while letting out a big sigh.

Talking about cutting it close. I'm about to rest my eyes when I hear a knock on the door.

"Who's there?" I ask.

"It's…uh…It's me, Elina" Says the voice behind the door.

I get up and open the door to see the little girl with a pillow standing with her night clothes in front of me.

"Can't sleep?" I say while yawning a little.

She nods and covers her mouth with her pillow.

"Alright, come in."

She enters quickly and goes straight to my bed, I pull a chair from near the window to have a place to sit down on. She has been visiting my room to talk some days now. I don't mind it, it helps her get tired and then she falls asleep.

"So what do you want to talk about today?" I ask while sitting down.

She lays down on her belly and puts her pillow under her elbows.

"Do you really…absolutely hate this world?"

"Of course I do, as of now it's just a prison. I would do anything to get out now." I say.

"Would you…kill yourself?" She says with a straight face.

"What?" I ask dumbfounded.

What the hell is she talking about? Why did she get so serious just now? She avoids my question and starts speaking.

"You know, back in the real word. I would say something like what you just said about this one." She says "This world as of now is just a prison. I would do anything to get out."

"Wait…are you saying…did you try to kill yourself back in the real world?" I ask scared

"Yes, several times."

I suddenly feel heavy and uncomfortable, I feel a huge knot in my throat. A feeling of dryness plagues my mouth and I just sit there silently.

"In here, I can walk, run, and jump whenever I want." She continues. "I have freedom I don't have in the real world."

I clear my throat. "What are you talking about?" I say, to no avail she keeps talking while ignoring my question.

"I don't exactly hate this world. Of course I fear I might die. But, I also fear I might have to go back to the real world."

I million thoughts go through my head, coming to think of it I know little about her in the real world. Likes and dislikes can only tell you so much about someone. As far as I know a significant aspect of her is that she owns dogs.

"You are not making any sense now…" I say in a low voice.

She ignores me again and keeps on rambling.

"Here, here I can do whatever I want whenever I want! I don't have restrictions or limitations. I'm someone entirely different from who I am in the real world." She says enthusiastically.

"I'm afraid of having to go back to my damaged self…in the real world" She says as her voice tones down.

"Damaged?" I ask naively.

"Here I'm not pathetic. Here I can do anything." She says.

I finally snap and raise my voice.

"Can you get to the fucking point please?!" I say harshly.

She shows and scared face and looks away quickly.

"I can't move from the waist down back there." She murmurs.

I feel as if something took the air away from me and it suddenly became hard to breathe. Watch your damned mouth. Idiot. Idiot. Idiot.

"Why tell me this…why tell me this now?" I grunt

She gets up slowly with teary eyes and starts walking around in a little circle with her hand close to her chest.

"Just recently…I felt like I could really trust you." She mutters. "I feel like I could trust you with anything now."

I move around a little in my seat and place my hand on my neck as I feel the uncomfortable knot in my throat become tighter.

"How…how did it happen…?" I question.

She stops moving and stares right at her feet. I should just probably consider never speaking again to avoid this kind of moments.

"Do you…really want to know?" She replies with a drowned out voice.

In my stupidity and complete lack of empathy or respect I nod.

"A drunk driver crashed against us when my father and I were going back home from visiting some family. My father died and ended up bound to a chair… My sister was away with my mother that day…thankfully." She says slowly as she sits down on the bed again.

I can see her crying now and she starts sobbing after a few seconds.

"I…I didn't want you or…or Daath thinking lowly of me..or any-"

I find myself hugging Elina close as she starts to cry a little harder in my arms. I pat her back and wait for a few moments as she keeps letting everything out. In the midst of it I can't help but to feel my eyes water up a bit.

"I would never, think that way of you. You are a strong girl Elina. A very strong girl." I say gently next to her ear.

She buries her face in my chest and keeps crying for a little longer. She slowly stops and I can only hear her sob a little.

"Does Daath know?" I can't help to ask.

"No." She says.

I nod and stop hugging her. She does the same and steps back a little to sit on the edge of the bed.

"Can I-"

"Yes, you can sleep here tonight." I say.

She nods and get into bed.

"Good night, Al." She says with a smile.

I get on my feet and press my head on the frame of the window. I take a deep breath and let it out slowly. I've never been good in opening to people. I've always been cautious about how I relate to them too. I didn't know how to react to this. Was it bad that I cried? Will she hate me because I showed pity? I hope I reacted the way she was expecting me to.

For a brief moment I look back at a sleeping Elina. I smile and turn to the window again. It seems I won't be sleeping again tonight. I sit on the chair and stretch a little.

"What a crazy day." I say to myself.

* * *

Crysina here!

Dark dark secrets people, Elina's character is an interesting one, I'll tell you that much. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I'll try my best to keep giving you great content.

If you have something just want to say or criticize you can leave a review. I accept all kinds of feedback and comments.

Thank you for reading! See ya soon!


	4. Chapter 4 - Secrets

**Chapter 4.- Secrets**

**29-November-2022**

**Alshep**

"I thought you said this was going to be easy." I grunt as I steady my sword.

Daath steps back a little until he reaches the wall where I'm leaning on. He sighs and lifts his sword a little in-front of him.

"My bad, I guess." He says.

We stand surrounded by stone-like humanoids that just keep pressing against us. Out of potions and health crystals, we find ourselves in a dire situation. I try to step back some more but the wall behind me feels all too solid. I get a stance going and hear the whirring of a sword skill getting ready.

"How's your HP?" Daath asks me as he gets a sword skill ready as well.

I glance quickly to the corner of my eye.

"A little past half…" I mutter

Daath sighs yet again and I just sulk. It's getting to dangerous levels and I really don't have anything to heal myself with.

"Ok, we can do this, it's just five of them against us." Daath says enthusiastically.

"Yeah, god forbid they were just two right?" I say sarcastically

Daath chuckles and attacks right after doing so. I turn to our enemies and scream before running towards them. I connect with the first one successfully doing a three hit combo before backing up from him. The sword feels light and powerful in my hands. I duck just in time to have one arm of the stone-men swing over my head. I turn to it and dash towards it. Just before reaching it I jump and stand on its shoulders. Thankfully this things are slow and it just so let's me stab its head a couple of times before it burst into light right at my feet. The enemy I attacked first swings at me and manages to hit me. He sends my flying to the wall and I crash against it in full force.

"Fuck." I gasp as I drop to the ground.

My hit points drop to critical and they are flashing red.

"Don't overdo it! Just leave it to me alright?!" Daath says as he takes down an enemy.

I chuckle and smirk at him.

"You underestimate me." I grunt while I stand up.

"Exactly the opposite man, you are too thickheaded. You act way too much on impulse!" He yells as he stops am attack with his sword. "You are great at fighting, but you are impulsive. Back down for now!"

I chuckle a little more and get my sword ready.

"Just watch."

With that, I dash to the golem that hit me and slam against it with my side. The impact reduces my HP some more but I successfully topple it to the ground. I jump on its chest and quickly drive my sword through its head. I pull it out and drive it once again successfully killing it this time. Quickly turning myself I manage to block the fist of the last golem standing with my sword. The impact pushes me backwards but doesn't decrease my health. In fit of rage I scream loudly and swing my sword at the stone man. After three hits and jump back and start a sword skill.

I jump high and grab my sword with both hands as I drop to push my sword on its top. I feel my feet hit the thing's face and I push my glowing sword through its head. It groans and quickly disappears. I get to the floor and get on my knees to get a breather.

"Well." I breathe in deeply and exhale loudly as Daath finishes off the last enemy. "That was easy."

Daath puts away his weapon and walks towards me with a smile on his face. He reaches for the inventory and tosses me a red vial. I catch it and look at Daath as he leans on the wall. I look back at my hand and then back to him.

"Uhm, you should use that." He says.

"You are a fucking asshole, you know that?" I say while still trying to catch my breath.

"What? Why?"

"I thought you said you didn't have any more potions!" I yell.

He crosses his arms and lets out a mocking laugh. Seriously, I could've died. What is wrong with this idiot?

"These things just dropped it." He says.

Yeah, right.

I thank him and stand up to sheath my blade. In one big gulp I down the potion and see my health slowly starting to regenerate. We take a break and sit along the wall.

"I never thought the last five floors would be this hard." I complain while stretching my arms.

"Well that's just an assumption, this maze had twenty floors in the beta. I really don't know if that number stayed the same." Daath replies.

I bring up my menu and scroll aimlessly to see if I got any new item I haven't noticed. Ever since day one I haven't seen any reason as to why I should change swords constantly like all players do. Maybe it was because I had gotten a rare sword that actually had a lot of power to it. Even Daath himself has been using that blade he got from Horunka Village. He had been upgrading it too, so there was no sense in changing it anytime soon.

Just yesterday I decided it was time to question Daath about upgrading. To my surprise it was easy. Very easy. In my mind I had it all thought up as a very complicated thing, but it turns out all you need most of the time is a lot of Col. And a Blacksmith with sufficient skill to not screw up your weapon. Since I have no interest in Blacksmithing, I'll be leaving that to NPCs. I will not in ever let a player handle my upgrading.

"Wolf Blade+5"

I close my inventory and rest my back on the wall while Daath keeps searching something on his inventory. Looking around the area I see a silhouette with a green cursor approaching us from the right. I push Daath a little and point to his right. He nods at me and closes his menu as I stand up. Daath stands too and crosses his arms. I just place one hand on the grip of my sheathed sword as the shadowy figure approaches. A black hooded woman walks towards us and stops just a few feet away. The hood covers her eyes and only the kind of pale smoothness of her nose and lips can be seen.

She doesn't say anything and neither do we. We just stand in the dim lighted corridor staring at each other.

"Are you looking for trouble?" She asks from afar.

"Not if you aren't as well." Daath replies confidently.

The woman smirks at us and reaches for the grip of her blade behind her back.

"And what if I am?" She continues

I pull on my sword a little and unsheathe it a bit to be ready if this goes south. Daath keeps his cool and doesn't uncross his arms. He either is that much of a badass or he just didn't notice the woman reached for her sword.

"If you are then you'll have to deal with us." Daath says.

The hooded girl takes out her sword quickly and places it in-front of her, I do the same and step forwards a bit. She holds a slightly curved blade with a rather long grip. It looks more like a hybrid between a sword and a spear.

"A niginata war sword." Daath says in awe.

"You are complementing her? She is threatening us you idiot." I grunt

"Indeed it is. Now, are you going to keep standing in my way?" She asks forcefully

Make up your mind woman.

"What if you join us for a while?"

Confused I turn my head to Daath and see him smiling after asking his question. I look at the girl and her lips make a weird smile.

"What?" She asks confused.

"You heard me. Join us for a bit. We'll split our earnings when we decide to go separate ways. How about that?"

I put away my sword and slap Daath over his head.

"Are you mad?!" I shout in his ear. "She was just about to try to kill us."

Daath chuckles a bit. "With that sword she wouldn't have just tried. She would've succeeded."

The girl sheathes her sword and slowly gets her hood out of her face. Smooth white skin and long slick black hair are revealed as she does this. Her green-ish eyes look straight at us. I won't lie, she was good looking.

"Hmph, fine. But if any of you two try anything funny you'll answer to me." She says.

I turn to Daath and grab him from his shoulders.

"What have you done idiot, she'll kill us when she gets the chance." I whisper.

He smiles but at the same time looks worried.

"Relax, maybe she'll help us clear some floors." He says awkwardly

Daath pushes me away and opens his menu as the black haired girl approaches us. He opens the invites tab and sends her one. The girl abruptly stops as the screen pops up in-front of her.

"What's this?" She asks

This is like Elina on the first day all over again. I can help but to laugh to myself and just watch as Daath explains her it's an invite to join our party. Dumbfounded she accepts the invite and her health bar appears before Daath's in heads up display. Her name reads Aeri.

"You never have been in a party?" I ask

"No, not at all. I've gone solo since day one." She replies

"Alright, Aeri." Says Daath. "Did you get up to here all by yourself?"

"She just did say she has been going solo…" I mumble.

She nods slowly and her face suddenly shows anger.

"What? Do you think I need help or something blondey?" She exclaims angrily.

Daath nods sideways and waves his hands like so in-front of him. To watch him act this nervously just makes me die inside. I guess he really is scared of that girl using her sword against us. After a good seven minutes of watching Daath act pathetically in-front of a girl we kept going our original way through the maze. Aeri seemed like a volatile person so I just kept my distance as she walked.

"Up ahead. More golems" Aeri points out

I ready my sword and walk past her quickly. I feel a hand on my shoulder and I'm pulled back violently.

"Sit down, leave this to me." She says.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" I huff.

She laughs and takes out her sword as she jumps over the golems. Daath follows and starts attacking the nearest enemy. I quickly recover myself and join battle. Daath and I are concentrating on individual enemies while Aeri quickly zips between the others, attacking them sporadically.

I can't help but to have a bad feeling about her. She is weird and aggressive. Not that I am not in a way. Her behavior was just too different from what I've encountered from other players in the last month. Getting my head back into combat I stab the golem in-front of me and drive my sword up its chest doing a lot of damage. I pull the sword out and slice my foe diagonally. This kills it and I'm able to help out Daath as he tells me to switch to deliver the finishing blow.

Aeri seems to be having a blast as she hasn't stopped laughing while attacking the three enemies she is handling. She moves swiftly above and beneath them, the way she moves puts me and Daath to shame. She then stops right in the middle of the golems and her sword starts glowing. Every single one of the three golems lifts their fists in anger as they drop them down to attack.

Aeri lets out a final giggle and starts spinning with her sword extended towards the golems. We see her sword slash the three of them in an abnormally fast manner. Soon enough they burst almost at the same time and Aeri stands smiling and heaving as they disappear. She sheathes her sword and puts her hands on her knees as she takes a few deep breaths.

"Man, I don't know if that is attractive or really really scary." Daath mumbles in my direction.

"Dude, not even for a second. She is a freaking psycho." I reply

She looks at us and smiles as she walks our way.

"You aren't like well-" I raise my hand and poke my own head a couple of times. "Up here, huh?

She gives me a stern look and gets uncomfortable close to my face. She stares right in to my soul for a couple of seconds and doesn't say a thing.

"Boo!" She shouts.

Sincerely not expecting that, my heart jump and I step back a little like a scared little girl. I hear Daath laughing loudly and Aeri flicks my forehead as she starts to laugh.

"Seriously, it's like I only get along with maniacs here." I mutter

"Aw come on, can't take a joke?" She says teasingly as she gets behind me and catches up with Daath.

A little scared I turn myself around and start following from behind. Daath is chatting with Aeri as I open my messages to see if Elina sent anything. As I expected I find something in my inbox but it isn't from Elina. But from a red haired individual I met two days ago.

From: Klaus  
To: Alshep  
Subject:-  
Message: Don't dare to think our problem is over. You don't mess with the White Snakes! You better watch your back boy. We'll be watching.

I chuckle a little but for some reason can't help but to look behind me quickly. I delete his message and send a quick one to Elina.

From: Alshep  
To: Elina  
Subject: I'm surrounded by crazy people.  
Message: Hi, just checking up on you. How are things looking back in Tolbana?

I send just that and close my menu as I see a towering golem become visible in-front of us.

"Does this qualify as a mid-level boss?" Says Aeri with a rather creepy tone on her voice.

"It should, it's freaking massive." I say while taking out my sword.

"Well, only one way to find out no?" Says Daath.

Aeri giggles and jumps head first, just as she does this a notice a second giant golem around the corner where the first one was placed.

"Dammit, wait!" I shout.

She doesn't hear me and starts attacking the first one at full speed.

"Well, lets help this idiot out!" I yell at Daath.

He nods and we both run at the second golem that is approaching Aeri from behind. Aeri doesn't notice at all and she keeps fighting her first enemy. Daath jumps with a sword skill cooking and slices the mid chest area of the massive enemy.

"Switch!" He yells

I slide in between its legs and slice them multiple times before coming out from behind him.

"Switch." I say

Daath parries one of its punches barely and counter attacks with amazing speed and power. The damage output was high enough as to make the golem stagger while Daath tells me to switch again. I ready my pierce skill as I jump trying to get near its neck or upper back. Only reaching above its hip I lunge my sword and it easily slides in. I feel it connect and twist t around to make some more damage. My attack stuns the enemy and I take the chance to switch with Daath. He jumps to the wall and kicks it hard making him go a little higher. His sword glows and he comes down with it slicing it vertically. Not paying much attention to its legs something pushes me forcefully against the wall.

Daath's attack didn't destroy the golem and now it had me pinned against the wall. Its stone foot was chipping away at my armor and health. I tried to move and push it away but I couldn't do anything. I managed to lift my arms along with my sword and started slashing the foot with a sword skill. I didn't feel pain but the incredible amount of pressure was everything but comfortable. All of the sudden my upper armor blows up into pieces and me health starts decreasing faster.

"Do something. Daath!" I shout.

Without losing a second he unleashes a barrage of slicing skills all over the golem. I drop my sword and start pushing the foot away with my arms and legs. I move it a bit but it's still dropping my hit points. My HP reaches yellow and Daath is finally able to destroy the hulking mass of rocks.

I drop to my knees and reach for my sword. I stand quickly as Daath reaches me.

"Hell, it destroyed your chest plate." He exclaims.

"Yeah, no shit." I reply. "Quickly we got to help this girl out before she gets herself kill-"

I stop myself as I see Aeri take down the giant golem on her side. She jumps back puts away her sword while smiling. Watching this girl has becoming really unnerving to me.

"Hey where's the result screen?" She complains.

I hear a loud thud behind and turn to see a red golem with a purple cursor over its head. You've got to be shitting me. With little health and an incomplete armor I stand back with my sword at the ready. Daath does the same and we slowly walk backwards to where Aeri was standing.

"This is becoming a rather inconvenient cliché." Daath mutters to himself.

Aeri walks past us and gives her back to the red golem.

"Well, this is where we cut ties." She says while she takes out a blue crystal. "Ciao!" She says mockingly.

The golem attacks her but she is quickly gone with a burst of light.

"That bitch…" I say

"We can take him don-"

"Oh screw you, this is all your fault!" I interrupt.

Daath sighs and attacks promptly with two sword skills. He yells "switch" and I step in piercing one of its legs and then slashing it a little.

"Let's have her joins us for a bit! She'll help us clear some floors!" I mock angrily.

Daath switches back in jumps to stab the golem in the chest, this makes it stagger and wobble on its feet a bit.

"Switch me back in!" I say

"Alright, switch!"

I quickly get behind it and ready the piercing skill again. I charge towards its wobbly feet and push my sword through the back of one leaning along with it. What I had in mind works and I manage to get one of its feet off the ground.

"Hit him in the chest again! Knock him down! Switch!" I yell

Daath takes a few steps back and runs towards the golem. Just before reaching him he jumps and hits the red monster with the blunt side of his blade making it fall right over my head. I roll just in the right time to clear its fall. The red golem struggles helplessly on the ground and we continue to attack it relentlessly. We drop its health to half and the thing suddenly starts glowing.

"What the hell?" I say.

"Shit, get back! Now!" Daath shouts.

I turn around and start running away but something lifts me of the ground and sends me flying deeper into the corridor. I hit the ground and I try to roll on my side to recover. I quick glance and I see my hit point reached the red beeping critical level again. My shoulder plates burst into light and I reach for my sword. I try to get on my feet but something pushing me down stops me.

"Don't worry, we got this." Says a voice patting my shoulder.

I turn my head slightly and see a blue haired man standing beside me along with five other men.

"Attack!" He commands and along with his men he rushes the red golem. Daath steps back letting them through and runs to me. He helps me stand and gets me leaning against a wall.

"You are one lucky bastard Al." He says while patting my back.

"Losing two pieces of armor and almost dying isn't what I would call lucky." I say jokingly.

The group assisting us quickly dispatches of the golem and the results pop in-front of us giving me and Daath a large portion of exp and Col. Bigger numbers is always better I guess. I lean on my back and slide down to sit on the floor. I turn to the group of players as the blue haired man approaches me and Daath.

"Were you taking that thing on just by yourselves?" He asks.

"Yeah, we are just that cool." I say.

Daath nods and gives me his hand so I can get back on my feet.

"All joking aside, Thanks for the help." I say while stretching my hand out to the man.

"No worries, my name is Diabel and this is my party."

He shakes my hand and his party waves accordingly.

"Well thank you Diabel." I say

Daath shakes his hand as well and thanks him.

"Oh, I remember that guy!" Says a tall bald man behind Diabel. "He is the one that socked the leader of the White Snakes in Tolbana the other day."

I chuckle and wave at the guy as the other guys start muttering stuff to each other.

"I heard of that." Says Diabel. "Quite a show that night. Anyways, what are you two doing here alone?"

"We were just trying to see what was up here." Daath replies.

Diabel nods and thinks for a second.

"You should be a little more careful, your partner almost died just now." He says as if scolding Daath.

Daath only nods and stands there awkwardly.

"Wait, I think I know you." Claims Daath.

Diabel suddenly looks nervous and interrupts Daath.

"You must be mistaking me for someone else, I'm good with faces. I'm sure I wouldn't forget someone like yourself." He says nervously

His party doesn't seem to notice but Diabel seems extremely nervous and his face almost shows anxiety. Daath stops pushing the matter and turns away from Diabel.

"You are right, I must have mistaken you for someone else." He mutters. "Thanks for the help, my partner and I will be going now."

I turn away as well and start walking the way we were coming from earlier.

"What was that all about?" I question.

"That guy…I'm pretty sure I saw him during the beta testing period."

The way Diabel acted finally made sense in my head. Since almost a week ago, an unusual hate against beta tester had been rising. Other players blamed them for the deaths of beginners during the first weeks.

Without proof or consent some players even started tracking beta testers to "make them pay". That didn't mean anything necessarily bad until just a few days ago we heard those words now sometimes involved PK-ing.

"Do you think that his party didn't know about it?"

Daath nods and appears thoughtful. "Yeah, there's no other reason for his behavior."

I agree with him and we keep making our way out of the maze in silence.

* * *

As we stepped outside I remember about the message I sent Elina. I go over my menu and open the message in my inbox with her name.

From: Elina  
To: Alshep  
Subject: Reply  
Message: Sorry for the late reply. Things are ok in town. Although I can't help but to feel this…sort of tension building up. I'll be waiting for you guys at the inn. I met someone I think you should meet.

I sigh loudly and close my menu quickly. Daath notices and turns his head to me.

"What is it?" He asks.

"Apparently Elina has someone she wants us to meet." I sigh.

"Why that reaction?"

"I don't want to meet new people for a while." I add.

He nods and chuckles a bit.

"Yeah that girl almost screwed us over back there huh?" He says.

I give him a faint look and turn my eyes to the road.

"Fine fine I'll shut up then." He groans

We reach Tolbana rather quickly and on the first shop I see I buy five health crystals. I take one out and use it as soon as it comes out of my inventory. My health quickly fills up and I let out a shout of joy.

"Well that was freaking close." I say to myself as I turn to Daath. "Hey! How come you almost never get hit?!"

"Because I'm good at dodging and you suck at it." He says while giving me a big smirk.

With no comeback ready and shut my trap and shove him playfully as we keep walking. Before reaching the inn I stop at another shop and buy a new chest plate along with some crimson shoulder plates. They have better stats than the ones I had before so they should do just nicely.

"By the way I don't mean to pry into your personal stuff but I do feel the need to ask something."

"Shoot." I reply

He clears his throat before continuing and puts his hand over my shoulder.

"Have you been sleeping with Elina?"

I stop on my feet. I look at him with my jaw open and one brow slightly higher than the other.

"What?"

"Well I know she's been going into your room lately. Sometimes she doesn't come out until morning." He continues.

"So now you are stalking me?" I say. "It's not what you think, we just talk. It helps her fall asleep."

"And then you sleep together, huh?"

"It's not like that, she sleeps on my bed and I just doze off on the chair." I say raising my voice.

"Hey, I'm not judging."

I sigh and push him off me.

"It's not what you think dammit. She is like a cousin or a little sister, I don't see her the way you are thinking." I clarify.

He laugh a bit and punches my arm playfully.

"I know, I know. I'm just yanking your chain here."

"Haha, you are hilarious." I say monotonously.

I relax internally as he drops the subject. He mentioning her late night visits made me remember what I discussed with her two days ago. Daath doesn't know about Elina's state in real life. Not that I would tell him without permission. But the sudden appearance of the topic makes me feel somewhat mellow.

"You ready to meet this person?" Daath asks as we approach the inn.

I nods sideways and sigh as we enter the inn.

"Al! Daath!" Says a familiar voice.

Elina runs towards me and Daath and stops before reaching us.

"I'm so glad you two are ok!" She says while smiling.

I smile at her and pat her head slightly.

"So who do you want us to meet?" Daath asks.

"Oh, right! She is just over here." She says as she pulls us through the inn.

"She?" I ask.

Elina pulls me and Daath around some tables and we finally reach the one where we normally eat at. Sitting down on it is a woman all dressed in black with an awfully familiar face.

"Her name is Aeri, I met her outside town while I was hunting a bit ago." Elina says with a smile.

She looks at us and drops the bread she was about to take a bite out of. Her face is priceless but I'm not exactly in the mood to enjoy it. I feel Daath's hand over my shoulder again as he pats it a bit.

"Well, you can't really say you are meeting someone new after all." He says while trying to hold back his laugh.

"Seriously, you should be a freaking comedian." I reply

* * *

Hello everyone! Crysina here!

Do I see a new main character in the horizons?! Perhaps, maybe, who knows?! Haha.

I'm close to a break from school, so I'll be able to write a while lot in the coming days. This makes me excited!

If you have something you just want to say, you can leave a review. I accept all kinds of feedback and comments.

Thank you for reading! See ya soon!


	5. Chapter 5 - Looking Into Things

**Chapter 5.- Looking Into Things**

**29-November-2022 (Late night)**

**Daath**

"Why did you bring her here Elina?!" Al asks outraged.

The poor little girl stands in-front of him looking at the ground as she mutters the word "Sorry" again and again. Aeri seems to be frozen on spot as she hasn't moved and her mouth is still wide open. I can't help but to feel the urge to laugh. But for the sake of not pissing off the big man I sit down and open my menu to send a quick message to an acquaintance of mine. Quickly doing what I had in mind I close my menu and lean on the table with my arms.

Al growls something even I can't decipher and sits beside me. Elina still looking apologetic sits on the other end of the table next to Aeri. Aeri seems to be quite shocked still so I just sit there awkwardly waiting for Al to break the ice in his usual eloquent manner.

"What the hell are you doing here in the first place?"

Here we go. I calmly lean more on my arms and what the conversation ensue.

"Wh-what do you mean?" Aeri responds.

"You know exactly what I mean! You left us to die back in the maze. And now you think you can just show up here?" Al answers.

Well she did not know Elina's connection to us but as always Al is just jumping places where there aren't even conclusions. I keep that thought to myself and keep watching.

"I met her outside town, she was having trouble so I helped her out." The black haired girl mutters.

"Is that true Elina?" I interrupt.

Elina nods shyly and keeps hiding her face from Al. I grin at her and Al keeps talking.

"So does that takes out the fact you tried to monster PK us?"

Elina suddenly looks up and stares at Aeri. She appears disappointed and Aeri just tries to not look at her.

"Is that true?" Elina says.

Aeri does her best to not look at anyone and I decided it's about time for me to speak up for a second time.

"Well that isn't entirely true."

I feel Al's eyes already pinned on me and try not to mind the feeling too much for the sake of explaining my point.

"We encountered a purple cursor monster, Al and I didn't have any crystals to leave the dungeon. So Aeri took her chance and decided it was not worth it to stay and fight." I explain.

Elina nods and rubs her chin a little as she tries to make sense of it. Al backs off and trains his sight back on Aeri. On the other hand Aeri sits in-front of me with a smile.

"Yeah that exactly what happe-" She stops.

Her smile disappears and her teeth show, appropriately resembling what I can just describe as an angry beast.

"Are you calling me a coward?!" She yells as she slams the table.

"You did bail out on us." I say.

She stares at me in rage and then sits down calming down a little. While Al's point of monster PK-ing did hold ground, it didn't seem logical to help something, at that a little girl after trying to kill two people. Nevertheless, that's just my reasoning. After all she did act a little psychotic when we were together. So my guess might be as good as Al's.

"Just say it already! You did expect us to die in there!" Al yells.

Aeri looks away yet again as if she was hiding something and purses her lips. She has something stored inside but she is afraid or ashamed to say it. Elina clearly notices this and places her hand on Aeri's shoulder.

"Come on, you can say it." She mutters.

Aeri looks at Elina and then to me and Al. She opens her mouth but closes it quickly again as she stares to the table.

"I…I was afraid one of you actually had died." She mumbles.

I feel joy at the sudden comment and elbow Al a little so he at the very least eases up a little on the girl.

"Bullshit…"Al groans.

"It's true…" Aeri mutter to herself.

"Come on give her a break." I comment. "True or not she appears remorseful. Cut her some slack will ya?"

He frowns but thankfully stands down. I get up quickly and go buy some food from the inn keeper. I get a jug of water and four sandwiches. Quickly I return to the table and lay out that food on it. Elina starts eating rather quickly and Al takes a bite out of his food like a child who was just ordered to finish up his food.

"Is this one…for me?" Aeri asks me.

I nod as I fill my cup with water. Her eyes practically shine and she starts eating her sandwich in a rather fast manner. She suddenly stops and hides her face.

"Thank you." She mumbles.

"What?" I tease.

"Thank you." She mumbles again.

"I can't hear you."

"I said thank you!" She says raising her voice.

Surprisingly enough we all finish our meal in silence and sit quiet for a while. Nothing had to be said and my best guess was that we were all finally on the same page.

"Let's start with the right foot this time." I say, getting everyone's attention. "My name is Daath, big man's Alshep and the girl sitting beside you, Elina."

Aeri nods quietly and places her arms on the table.

"You guys, don't use your real names? You seem to be close." She says.

"We never got around to knowing each other's real names. And we agreed not to use them a few days after we met." Says Al.

Elina nods and takes a sip of water.

"It's all we see in the heads up display anyways." He adds.

"Are you guys a guild or something?" Aeri questions.

"Guilds can't be created until we reach other floors." I claim.

"Huh? What about that White Snakes guy?" Al asks.

Guild management doesn't become available until further floors. So Klaus might as well just been in a party with his little minions that day. Kind of odd to come with a name and outfits for it though.

"He must've just been in a party with the guys he was with." I clarify.

"But they had outfits and a guild name and stuff." Said Elina.

"Merely clothes and a name, not necessarily a guild." I explain.

An eerie silence plagues the table and I find myself with nothing else to add to the conversation that was going rather fluidly seconds ago. Aeri suddenly stand up and exits the table.

"Well…thanks for the meal. I guess this is where I say goodbye." She says in a mellow tone.

I can see Al nodding to himself smiling, as he had won something. A quick glance towards Elina reveals to me a motive that is bound to piss off the hell out of Al.

"Why don't you stay with us?" Says Elina.

As suspected Al's victory smile disappears in less than a second and I can already see him scolding Elina loudly in my mind.

"What?" Aeri says just as she was about to leave.

Watching as Al is just ready to explode I decide it would be a good idea to back up Elina on this.

"Yeah, why don't you stay? You could join our party. Until you see fit or just indefinitely."

I feel Al's about to burst rage focusing on me as I do my very best to ignore the feeling. Aeri turns around and gets herself back in her seat on the table.

"Really? Are you ok with that?" She asks cautiously.

I nod and see Al as he is about to open his mouth. Probably regretting my next move a slide over to him and cover his mouth with my hand.

"I don't think we have any objections. Although, you will have to learn to not leave anyone behind." I comment.

She smiles slightly and breathes in deeply.

"Thank you so much guys." She replies.

Seeing that sudden change of attitude "again" makes me believe she is not that bad of a person. The easy going smile and her attitude makes up for an interesting person. But only time will tell, although I do see Al and her bumping down the road frequently.

Elina sends her a party invite and I add her since we disbanded the party for when Al and I went to the maze. In the corner of my eye I know see four names along with health bars.

"Daath"  
"Alshep"  
"Elina"  
"Aeri"

"You better make it up to us for leaving us in the maze though." Al orders.

Here we go.

"Hey! Seriously! It was never my intention to leave you to die there. I was scared myself, I just did what you would've done if you were alone as well." She says.

Al should at the very least admit he agrees with her on that but knowing him that won't happen anytime soon.

"Oh yeah sure, I would've totally bailed on the people that were helping me!" Al growls.

Aeri shows her teeth again in that creepy yet somewhat funny animalistic way and slams the table.

"If anything I was the one helping you guys out!" She shouts.

It would seem every time we sat down at this table to talk all we did was attract attention. And since this time it wasn't any different I started noticing how players around literally stopped what they were doing to catch a glimpse of the on-going discussion.

Al and Aeri exchange shout after shout and it gets to the point where the conversation stopped making sense. Elina and I sit in the middle of it trying to make some sense out of what they are arguing about.

"I bet I have a faster reaction time than you fatty!" She yells.

"You surely do, but you have nothing against my defense." Al admits trying to change the course of conversation.

"STOP!" Elina yells suddenly.

Both Al and Aeri look at Elina just after she yelled her lungs out. They look back at each other and then back to Elina.

"Can't we have a nice evening for once? I know you are new to this table Aeri, but Al for god's sake. Please just one night, that's all I ask for." She says with a firm voice.

Impressed I can' help but to smile at the little girl. Aeri sits down immediately and so does Al. I chuckle a bit and have another sip from my cup of water. Like grounded children Al and Aeri don't look at each other or at Elina. Elina finally sits down and I can see faint sign of fulfillment on her expression.

Suddenly through the chatter of other players in the inn I hear someone whistling in a tone I had been expecting. I turn my head slightly to the door trying to not raise too much attention. And see a hooded player. She looks at me and beckons me over before disappearing in the darkness that lied beyond the door.

"If you'll excuse me." I say while standing up.

I leave my table behind and quickly step outside to see the hooded figure step into an alley not far from the inn. I make my way there swiftly and into the alley. In-front of me now stands the girl in hood I was looking for.

"How's it going whiskers?" I say.

"It's Argo to you, Daath."

"Wow wow, I thought you were all business what is it with the name calling now?"

She grins at me and extend her hand towards me.

"Bird won't sing if she's got nothing to eat."

I transfer five hundred Col over to her and cross my arms.

"That's not the amount we agreed on." She grunts.

"Well, it turns out I might not want to hear all of the bird's song." I mock.

She hisses at me and leans against the wall. I obviously pissed her off, but I'm not entirely trusting of her and I want my information before anything else goes out of my pocket.

"This Diabel guy you asked for, he is in Starting City right now." She explains.

"And?"

"And you have to pay for the rest of your information." She groans.

A little pissed a give her another five hundred Col. She gets off the wall and gets closer to me as she continues talking.

"He has been going around shops purchasing stuff since he left the maze a bit ago." She mutters.

How she gets this information just baffles me, but I got nothing else than to believe what she says to be the truth.

"What does that have to do with anything?" I ask.

The girl with whiskers turns to me with a smirk and extends her hand towards me again.

"You are unbelievable…" I complain while transferring her some more Col.

Receiving more than the accorded payment she giggles and gets closer to me.

"Well, he could be nervous. But there's no reason to act that way. Maybe he is just buying stuff like anyone would." She says.

"Well that didn't help me whatsoever." I say.

"Hey hey, you know I don't give refunds." She says quickly.

"Yeah, I know you are a rat alright."

She laughs some more and walks away from me a bit.

"Hence my title." She says. "If you don't mind me asking…why do you need this info? Why only from this player?"

"I thought you only talked business." I mutter.

"You are scary Daath." She admits. "You don't plan on PK-ing him are you? Back in the beta you-"

"What I do with this information is none of your business."

She huffs and turns her back on me as she begins to walk away.

"Information is my business." She says before disappearing into the alley.

I find myself standing alone in a dark alley all of the sudden. The information Argo gave me while short and ambiguous serves its purpose. I now know where Diabel is and plan to confront him. All because of that little itch I left unscratched back at the maze. I know it in my gut he is a beta tester. And if I'm right, he isn't exactly of the nice kind.

Swiping my hand I open my menu and send a message to Al.

From: Daath  
To: Alshep  
Subject: Don't wait up.  
Message: I have to go to Starting City, don't stay up waiting for me.

I close my menu and start heading out of Tolbana at brisk pace. The road I now travel was dangerous a few weeks ago, but its dangers now appear weak and pathetic after almost a month of leveling. On my way I meet with a couple unfortunate packs of wolves which I dispatch quickly and without taking damage. About halfway to Starting City Al decides to reply to my message.

From: Alshep  
To: Daath  
Subject: Reply  
Message: Not like I would, take care though.

I chuckle a bit and keep heading towards my target. After a few minutes of sprinting I find myself without breath at the very gates of Starting City. Running in this game has proven more exhausting than I ever began to imagine. As it turns out, I'm a lucky guy and find the blue haired individual I was looking for as he was making his way out of town.

"Diabel."

He notices me and walks over to me calmly.

"Daath, right?" He asks.

I nod as I recover from my feat of athleticism.

"What are you doing here? Where you looking for me?"

"You lied to me back in the maze." I say.

His eyes suddenly show panic and he takes a few steps back. I take a few towards him in case he tries to run for it.

"How the hell did you find me?"

The nervousness turns to anger.

"You went by another name during the beta, I'm sure of it. Your avatar is identical to the one I remember." I continue. "Isn't that right, Lucius?"

His eyebrows dip into his eyes as he reaches for his sword. I quickly do so too and just hold the grip as he hasn't taken out his word yet.

"Let's not make a scene here, I just want to ask a few questions." I say.

"You really got some nerve to track me down like this. But you caught my attention, I'll give you that , much." He answers.

I'll take that as a yes then.

"Why are you all of the sudden hanging out with players and not killing them?"

He chuckles and moves his hand away from his sword.

"Haven't you heard? Killing here is now actual murder." He says mockingly.

"So you are just taking advantage out of your party?"

He laughs a little and nods.

"They do the dirty work and I sweep in as the mighty knight to get all the bonuses." He admits

I move my hand away from my sword and relax my stance a little. It all made sense now. He is just taking advantage out of having people with him to attack monsters and always go in for the last strike. Given how high up in the maze he found us and can surely assume he's been doing it since the first floor. Having big numbers reduces his probabilities of losing much health and actually puts people in the line while acts as a leader.

It somehow made me sick and I would've done everything in my power to just punch him right now. But I needed to watch my temper.

"You are disgusting." I say.

He smirks widely at me and starts walking closer as if he didn't even care anymore.

"And what are you gonna do?" He mocks. "Kill me?"

I smile to myself a little as he walks past me. He notices this and turns towards me.

"You would? Wow, you are fucked up in the head man." He mumbles.

He keeps walking outside the gates and I turn just to see him about to disappear into the night.

"Does the name Datell ring any bells?" I say while I feel a big smile creeps up my face.

Diabel stops suddenly and slowly turns my way with widened eyes.

"No way…you are th-"

"That's right, I'm the player killer killer." I interrupt.

His face flusters with panic and he stares at me frightened.

"You do remember, huh?" I ask.

"You crazy bastard. Are you still doing that?"

I nod sideways and cross my arms.

"No one has given me any incentive to do so." I chuckle. "You wouldn't want to be the first, now would you?"

"You wouldn't do it again. You know what's at stake now!" He yells nervously.

"Then don't try me. If I hear you return to PK-ing. I'll find you and when I do. I won't be so civil with you."

He is angry, nervous and afraid. I can see it in his eyes. He is just looking for the right chance to run away. Killing player killers was seen as an extreme way of revenge back in the beta. But it would be treated as being a murderous vigilante now. I've been trying to avoid it all along.

But if it comes down to it again, I won't hesitate to allow people that are committing actual murder to go by just like that. If I have a chance to stop it, I won't just let it slide.

"Consider this a warning, Diabel." I say with a firm voice.

Finally taking a chance he starts running into the dark road to Tolbana. I uncross my arms as I relax a little and look around. The city's entrance is desolated and I can see the light further into the city shining brightly. I can't help but to feel the city is just filled with sadness and regret.

A lot of players haven't even moved outside Starting City out of the fear of dying. This is understandable but, to give up in life just like that. It's quite saddening. This was supposed to be a place of joy and excitement. A game where you could be that person you would never get the chance to be in real life. But things took a turn to the morbid and it found itself turned into a horrifying game of death.

It's almost past midnight when I notice and I sigh to myself as I take in the city's gloomy vibe.

"People do change, huh?" Says a voice behind me.

"Argo, for some reason I felt as if you followed me. Guess I was right." I mutter.

I turn around and see her face, I notice a faint smile and can't help but to return it.

"For a moment I thought you were going to kill him." She says.

"I wanted to, even if he says he hasn't killed anyone. Player killers right now…are criminal scum."

"You do notice the irony and hypocrisy in your sentence right?" She says, getting a little closer to me. "If you kill player killers now you would be becoming a real killer yourself. Kind of defeats the purpose don't you think?"

She is right and I know it's hypocritical and somewhat flawed to a point. But it's hard for me to overlook stuff like this. Even more so now than before.

"I know…" I reply. "You know me Argo, if it comes to it…I won't just stand there."

I feel her hand over my shoulder as she places herself next to me.

"For the sake of your sanity, I hope it doesn't get to that." She whispers. "Actually killing someone will haunt you, even if you think it was a good thing."

She pulls her hand away from me and starts walking away.

"Take care." She says before leaving no trace in her usual manner.

Getting slapped by reality is hard, even harder when you are not in reality. I find myself a bench and sit to think things over thoroughly. The name I used to go by, Datell. The player killer killer…I sit and take in all the comments Argo made to me. She was right, more than I wanted to admit. I had no plan of becoming a vigilante of any sort, Datell would definitely never come back. But, with PK becoming a rising problem it was hard to be just a bystander.

After literally talking to myself for a while, I come to a conclusion. Daath will not be a player killer, nor a player killer killer. In a lame attempt to feel better with myself, I make a silent vow of protecting my friends and my friends alone. Suddenly the things I said to scare Diabel sounded empty and for some reason stupid. Argo should consider a career in life counseling other than an informant.

I beep gets my attention, I've gotten mail.

From: Alshep  
To: Daath  
Subject:-  
Message: What are you doing anyways?

From: Daath  
To: Alshep  
Subject: Reply  
Message: Just window shopping.

* * *

Crysina here!  
And suddenly Daath got interesting too! Haha.

Next chapter will be the clearing of the first floor. Look forward to it!

If you have something you just want to say or point out you can leave a review. I accept all kinds of feedback and comments.

Thank you for reading! See ya soon!


	6. Chapter 6 - Clearing

**Author Note:** A quick heads up. According to the light novel "Aria in The Starless Night" and SAO's Wiki, two meetings before the fight against the boss of the first floor are held. The second one being the one were strategies and parties are discussed, this one is held on December the 3rd. Subsequently the first raid is done on the 4th. According to the Anime this meeting is held in December the 2nd and the raid is done on the 3rd. I wrote this chapter over the chronology of the light novel not necessarily in the same context as the light novels though, just keep that in mind. Furthermore enjoy the sixth chapter of "STEE1 & SW0RDS".

* * *

**Chapter 6.- Clearing**

**December-3****rd****-2022**

**Alshep**

Yesterday Daath informed me and Aeri that a meeting was held regarding the soon to be discovered boss of the first floor. Later he explained there was going to be a second meeting today and that we should consider going. He asked us not to let Elina know anything about it since she didn't want her near any high level enemies just yet. That made enough sense to me so I didn't bother in commenting about it.

Daath explained he wouldn't be attending today's meeting because of some "unfinished business he had a little out of Tolbana. Since nothing else really popped up during the early morning I decided to attend the meeting. Tragically I had a not so wanted companion going to it with me.

"Remind me again." I sigh. "Why the hell are we, you and I of all people, going to this together?"

"Hey, Daath told me about this as well. I have every right to go." Replies Aeri. "Besides, if you just didn't look this way with that disgusting face of yours you wouldn't even notice I'm here."

Keeping my eyes concentrated on the road ahead of me I breathe out slowly as I hang my head a little. The background music had been driving me crazy for the last month. But Aeri was able to swoop in and take first place in the list of things I can't stand.

"If you care to notice, I'm not even looking at you." I say growing little frustrated.

"In that…you might be right. But my point still stands-" She says as if she didn't finish her sentence.

"…sorta" She then mutters.

"You aren't very smart, are you?" I say.

I hear some fast footsteps and the girl in black hood had placed herself in-front of me. Almost growling at me, she said nothing for a bit and kept walking backwards so she would face me.

"Didn't come up with a comeback before doing this?" I mock.

"Sh-shut up! I did I just see no reason to waste such awesome words in someone like you." She says nervously.

"So you didn't?"

"Grrr…you suck." She groans as she turns her back on me.

Confused I keep walking in a straight line to what I assume is the place the meeting is going to be held in. Approaching what I can only describe as a weird amphitheater. As anyone with any common knowledge would know, these things are designed downwards making the steps towards the center stage the sits for people attending the amphitheater. I've only known Aeri for a few days now, but that's all it takes to figure out if someone is bright or not. And Aeri…let's just say she is a few keys short of a piano. Either that or she is straight out walking with her eyes closed.

I managed to reach out and grab her hood as she is about to step where she isn't looking and pull her before she has the chance of go rolling down the steps.

"Why are you touching me?" She says right away.

"Fine." I say as I let go.

She steps forwards and her foot quickly notices there's no more floor in front of her. She jerks her body in a hilarious manner and falls into the first landing of the Amphitheater. She falls on her butt and quickly tries to get up to avoid any further embarrassment.

"Why didn't you tell me there was a step in-front of me?" She yells.

Quietly strangling her in my mind I jump down the first landing and sit down on the second one. It didn't take long for her to join me. She sat down next to me making sure she shoved me while doing so. It would seem we arrived just in time. Several other players arrived with us and sat down around the steps. Suddenly a somewhat familiar voice cut through the chatter of other players.

"O-K then, we are already late. We should get this thing started." Said a blue haired man as he jumped down the steps and headed towards the center stage.

Taking a long clear look at the man I notice he is Diabel. The same man that pretty much saved my ass a few days ago back in the maze.

"Hmph, what is this guy doing?" Aeri mutters.

"Everyone please move a little bit closer, my voice isn't that loud." He adds.

"Come on." I say to Aeri while standing up.

We reallocate a little closer to the stage and sit near the last landing. Other players do the same and some sit near me and Aeri. A rather weird looking fellow sits next to her and I notice how she scoots a little closer to me.

"Hah, did I suddenly become likable?" I whisper.

She doesn't turn to me or anything she just "Hmph"s me in her usual manner and ignores me. That little cute noise she makes is the only redeemable quality about her. I really do not intend to sound like an ass, but she just gets under my skin.

"The ones that were here yesterday already know who I am." Said Diabel. "For the very few who don't, I am Diabel and I'm a knight!"

People around started laughing a bit and quieted down quickly. It felt as if he had just told some kind of inside joke everyone but Aeri and I knew.

"Yesterday's meeting didn't go as I expected but I hope this one doesn't require any huge pauses." He explains. "I hope everyone by now has purchased a copy of this."

As he finished his sentence he took out a small book and held it in the air. Almost everyone around me took the same thing out and started flipping through its rather thin content, including Aeri.

"What in the world is that?" I ask.

"It's some sort of strategy guide. It was being sold for zero Col." She replies.

"It was given away then, not sold" I mock "Anyways, when the hell did you get it?"

"I got it before we started heading here. Funny thing though, I didn't think I was actually going to use it here." She says laughing a little.

Looking around I noticed everyone was dug in with their book thingies and I was left alone with nothing in my hands. I leaned back as I placed my hands behind me and waited for a little bit. Aeri turned her head towards me and sighed.

"Fine…read it with me. Just try not to get to close." She said.

"Am I like a sort of repulsive thing to you or what?" I can't help to ask.

She nods slightly. Well screw you too. She then moves her head a little so I can read the book as well. Just as she said it was a literal strategy guide. It depicted the stats and information of the boss of the first floor. Its name, "Illfang the Kobold Lord". A huge red beast with a face that resembled an angry dog was shown in the small book. Alongside it was information about it.

Its health which rounded up to four full health bars, its weapon which was a sword of the scimitar type labeled the "Talwar", and even its sword skills. It was incredibly detailed, so much it made me doubt how much of it was true.

"How did someone even make this?" I say.

"Beats me." Aeri mutters.

I kept reading the information as Aeri went through it. Apparently this boss wouldn't fight alone, a set group of minions named "Ruin Kobold Sentinels" were to pop out and help the boss as it was engaged by players. A total of twelve of the things were to get in our way if we wanted to attack this enemy. Taking another look as Aeri flipped through a notice a part marked with bright red text.

"This information is from the time of the SAO beta test. It is possible that the current version may be different."

So beta testers did this huh? I can't really say I have an opinion on beta testers, given I only know one. Everyone labels them as bad persons but, Daath is the complete opposite. While sometimes cold and silent he has been the biggest help Elina and I could ever ask for since the game started. I lift my head up and notice that everyone is still reading except for Diabel who seems to be breathing in deeply. He opened his eyes and breathed in a little more before he started talking.

"Alright everyone, let's be thankful for this information." He says. "Regardless of the source, this is bound to help a lot in the coming battle. And as of far, it has completely eliminated the necessity of scouting battles."

Regardless of the source? Would they complain just because this might have been made by beta testers? People's hatred sure goes a long way.

"The source being…the beta testers?" Aeri asks tilting her head to me.

"Oh, so you do know how to read." I mock. "Kidding aside, yes. This was probably made by them."

I stop myself before talking more than I should. Aeri doesn't know Daath is a beta tester and he asked me and Elina to keep it that way since he would rather avoid any unnecessary attention. She nods her head acknowledging me and turns to Diabel as he continues speaking.

"If we take this information to be true, the boss's stats aren't really much to worry about. If this were any other game people level four or five should be able to attempt this battle successfully."

I look up to the left corner of my eye and see my level which stands at nine. Well it seems I'm more than fit for this thing. I smile to myself and keep listening to what the self-proclaimed knight has to say.

"With some well thought out tactics and enough potions I believe we can defeat this boss with little to no deaths." He says. "No, scratch that! We can do it with no deaths whatsoever. That's a promise! A knight's promise!"

Just finishing his sentence people all around started to cheer. Aeri starts to clap and people followed her as the whole place turned into a big buzz.

"This is rather fast, but I think it's time we start coming up with some kind of tactic. We are going to make a raid party!" He yelled. "So please, make a party with friends and people near you."

"What?" Aeri blurted out.

The creepy man beside her scooted close and almost literally leaned over Aeri.

"Wanna make a party with me?" He says in an ironically creepy as hell tone.

I see Aeri's face of disgust staring right at me as her face flushes a little. With a weird squirm like sound Aeri bolted up on her feet and ran towards a group of people close to last landing. I stand up and pat my legs a little.

"Don't take it personal." I say to the guy before following Aeri.

Jumping to the last landing I reach Aeri who is near a group of four persons.

"It is a relief to know I'm not that disgusting to the point I scare you off." I say.

"You still are rather ugly, don't compliment yourself." She replies.

"Hey, you two. Come and join us. We are exactly two people short." Said a tall bulky black man.

Aeri and I both walk over to him and receive an invite to the party, from a man named "Agil". We joined a small circle of now six people.

"So what can you guys do?" Asks the tall man who I assume to be Agil.

"I can take some damage if necessary, my sword has pretty good stats, so I guess I'm good on the offensive side as well" I say while knocking my shoulder plates.

"Ah, I see. What about you?" He asks Aeri.

"Huh? Me?" She says while pointing at herself.

The tall man nods and Aeri looks away while letting out that "Hmph" of hers.

"I'm the fastest player you'll ever see. I move like the wind, nothing can touch me." She says proudly.

"Aren't you exaggerating just a bit?" I mumble.

She slaps me over the head and puffs out her chest.

"You better believe it."

The tall guy nods with a somewhat weird frown and turns to the group in general.

"My name is Agil, I hope we can work well together." He says.

We all greet and exchange names in an awkward manner before Diabel reaches us.

"We'll be forming parties from the letter A to when we run out of people, haha." He says.

Diabel starts examining the party of six in front of him as he starts asking what we can do. Everyone in my entire group says they have a decent damage output and defense overall except for Aeri who keeps bragging about her speed.

"I think this group is well set up to be the second tank team. That being group B, although I would like you, Aeri in one of the assault teams." Diabel says.

Aeri nods and follows him out of the party as he goes to examine the next group of people. Not a minute passes and we are joined by another guy with an impressive armor set up.

"Hello, Diabel said I should join you guys." He says.

Agil claps his hands to get our attention and we all turn around to see him.

"Well, we are Tank team B." He exclaims in a cheerful tune. "Let's work hard together."

We all nod and shake hands, completing what I can only describe as some sort of party bond. Diabel made a few rounds around the parties checking if everything was in place and shortly after that he returned to the center of the stage.

He explained the division of all the people in the meeting. Two tank groups, A and B. These teams would keep the attention of the boss and would try to have a defense against its attacks. We were basically moving duckies in a shooting gallery for it. Groups C to E were assault teams, they would focus on dealing the actual damage to the boss while taking out the "Sentinels". Aeri ended up on group E whose leader was a guy with really funny shaped hair. Group F was to support the assault teams and attack if needed be.

A last group was made with only two people in it. Group G was made up only two individuals, a girl with a red-ish cloak and a boy with black hair who just seemed too familiar to me. They would focus on helping out group E when taking on the Sentinels.

Diabel also added that the Col would be split evenly among all the players in the raid and that the items acquired during the raid would follow the rule of "Drop to Player". Which basically just meant that the items would go to the player that got them. With all explained the different parties split into smaller groups while still keeping their respective parties in their HUDs. I still had Agil's name along with another four below my health bar.

The only ones left in the lowest point of the amphitheater were me and Aeri.

"Funny how you ended up with that creepy guy anyways."

"Oh, shut up." She mutters.

"It's still somewhat early, want to get something to eat before heading to the inn?" I ask.

"Yeah, sure. Why not?" She answers.

We exit the amphitheater and go around the main plaza a bit before finding a bar we finally decide to go into. Going inside the background music is quickly changed for a more cheerfully, cantina-esque kind of tune.

We head straight to the bar and sit in a pair of high chairs on its side.

"Two sandwiches and a couple of beers please." I hail to the bar man.

"Beer? I know you recently had your birthday, but I'm pretty sure you can't drink yet." Aeri says.

"Yeah well good luck getting drunk out of virtual beer." I say as I pass along one of the mugs and one of the sandwiches to her.

"Oh, for me? Here I thought you were going to eat them both by yourself." She says while smirking at me.

"The fact that you piss the fuck out of me doesn't mean I should stop being a gentleman." I reply while taking a bite out of my food.

"Hah, so you have been treating me like a princess or something?"

"Nope, just like I would treat any other girl. As long as you are eating in the same table as I am I 'll pitch."

"Haha, so your manners don't go out of the dinner table?" She mocks.

"You want to talk about manners?" I reply.

"Hmph" She exclaims before taking a long sip out of her beer. "I've never had beer, but this is what I imagine it would taste like. Funny."

"That's a weird comment…" I say.

We eat our food in a fast quiet manner and have some more beers as the day passes by.

"You know something, I don't feel drunk. But, my HUD sure is getting blurry for some reason." Says Aeri.

I didn't notice before but my HUD was blurry as well. I felt fine and there definitely was no way I could be drunk. After all my, body probably lies on a hospital ward. I cringe and chuckle a bit at the though and down what's left of my beer.

"I hope this isn't like other games where they let your character drink" I say.

"Huh? Why is that?" Aeri mutters.

"Well, if they let the character drink they also kind of blur the screen and the character control becomes stupidly difficult. "

I turn my head around and see a couple of guys head for the door almost stumbling as they do so. Please SAO, don't be like other games. The late afternoon turns into night and I find myself still drinking and chatting a little with Aeri.

"Well, seven beers in and I feel completely fine!" Chants Aeri.

She moves her hand near her mug and pushes it to the ground without noticing. It crashes and breaks in the ground. Some of the people at the bar turn around and cheer as this happens.

"It is really blurry now though." She adds.

"I think it's about time we head for the inn." I comment.

She gets up and wobbles a little.

"Come on, now you are just faking it." I say.

"You try standing up, you big idiot" She replies.

I move around and get my feet to the ground as I try to get up from my seat. My body feels heavy and sluggish but there is none of the other effects I've heard you would get if you got drunk. No dizziness or slur of speech. Just plain sluggish movements which I can only assume is caused by the game registering our characters have had a little too many beers.

"Well then, let's try to get to the inn." I say while I start walking to the door.

I felt pathetic as I almost stumbled my way to the bar's door. Outside the chilly air finally hit my face as I breathed it in slowly. Aeri was exiting the bar as she suddenly crashes against me almost toppling me over.

"Hey watch where you are going!" She yells.

"I was standing still woman!" I reply.

I help her on her feet and we start heading towards the inn. The blurry HUD bothered me greatly, it made it hard to see where you were headed. This greatly complicated things as we just tried to reach the inn.

Finally by some miracle we were able to reach the familiar looking facade and I heard Daath's voice.

"Where were you two all day today?" He questions.

"We were in your meeting thing, we got ourselves a place in the boss raid tomorrow." Aeri says while holding unto the inn's door frame.

"Really? Are you guys up for that?" Daath asks.

"You better believe it." I say trying to mock Aeri.

The HUD's blurriness started to fade away slowly and it finally returned to its original state after a few seconds.

"It's finally over!" Aeri cries as she kneels.

Daath with a confused expression heads to the stairs and goes up to his room.

"Do you mind waking me up tomorrow for the raid?" Aeri asks me.

I nod and start getting up the stairs to the hallway of rooms. As I'm about to reach my door I hear a creaking sound. Three doors to the left I see Elina's head popping out of her room. I sigh to myself and beckon her over as I open my door. She runs over to me and gets in my room quickly. I'm about to close the door as I see Daath coming out of his room.

"Hey, I won't be going to the raid in a group. But I don't think it'll hurt if I show up now would it?" He says

"I don't think it would, besides you would be of great help." I say.

He nods and closes his door. He is a man of few words. I scratch my head a little and turn to my room as I close the door.

"Alright, what are we going to talk about today?"

* * *

**December- 4****th**** -2022**

Before leaving the inn with Aeri I checked Daath's room to find it empty. Somewhat disappointed we left to rendezvous with that raid group at ten. After we were all gathered we set out to the tower. After almost an hour and a half of walking to the tower maze and going up through it, we finally stand in-front of the acclaimed big metal door. With colorful designs off beasts engraved on it a raid group of about forty four stand in line waiting for its passage to open. It's massive and you can't help but to feel somewhat powerless in-front of it.

"This feels ominous." Agil mutters beside me.

"What do you mean ominous?" Asks one of the guys in our group.

"Foreboding." I answer with intent of confusing the poor soul some more.

Agil chuckles and puts his fist next to him just as I bump it with my own. Diabel made himself visible in-front of the group and we all stiffened up as he placed his hand on the center of the door. Glancing around quickly I locate Aeri and see her grin widely as she reaches for her sword. She is truly a maniac or she just really enjoys fighting.

"Let's go!" He yelled before pushing the doors with all his might.

As the doors slowly crept open, a vast room reveals itself. With little to no light in the room, we started to make our way in slowly. Group after group we entered. The room was big and you were able to see the end of it but it still seemed too far apart from the exit.

We were all about to get in when darkness suddenly filled all of the room. Just like in any other cliché boss fight torches from the back of the room started lighting up one by one till they reached the very door we came in from. With some light finally shining in the room skulls could be seen lying all around. It all just seemed too cliché to me and I couldn't help but to chuckle a bit.

Deeper inside the room, now with some light, a large silhouette was revealed. Diabel unsheathed his sword and as he did pretty much everyone did as well. I reached to my side and pulled out my trusty soon to be a month old sword.

Diabel swiftly swung his sword down and it was finally our time to move. Group A started running and let out a furious battle cry which a lot of people just followed to encourage themselves to charge the beast. Right behind them we started running as we shouted as well.

As we got closer to the silhouette it suddenly jumped from where it was standing and landed on the ground just a few meters away from group A. With another scream they started attacking the big red beast. It was our job to get the boss's attention as we attacked and also to allow for the assault teams to quickly switch in and attack the boss while he wasn't really aware of it.

Group A switched with us after a bit of attacking, their group didn't lose a lot of HP but the still switched out to start drinking some potions as Agil lead us in to attack. Standing close to the boss almost made me freeze in fear as it easily stood two meters tall above me. It growled loudly as it swung at us with a massive axe. Agil easily parried a few of his blows and counter attacked swiftly as he backed up for me to jump in.

With a sword skill at the ready I attacked the towering enemy with all my might. Not paying too much attention as I did so I only managed to hit it three times before it hit me hard with its axe. The attack took a little part of my hit points and made me stand back as the next person in our group jumped in to continue attacking. The whole room was in total mayhem. The assault groups were focusing on attacking the boss from behind as the support ones were completely concentrated on the sentinels that popped out as we started attacking the boss.

In the midst of the chaos I spotted Aeri who was moving at her amazing speed through and around her team mates to attack the boss as my group still distracted it. I took some time as we switched back with group A to asses Illfang's moves and try for a more effective set of moves when it came to be my chance to attack again.

Not much time had passed and we were already able to deplete the first bar of the blood lusting beast. It growled more fiercely and louder as we kept attacking it, we weren't letting it get a chance. The switches between tank groups and assault groups were fluid and we were taking all the advantage of the slow response time of the boss.

"This is great, we are doing really good!" Agil shouted as I stepped in after him.

With a defensive mindset this time along a parried two of its swings before counterattacking with a three hit combo. I jumped back and let the next player take my place as I rejoined Agil.

"Don't chant victory so early." I say. "We still got a long way to go."

Agil seemed understanding and he just nodded as we waited for the rest of our group to be ready again.

Switch in and switch out we were finally down to half of the penultimate bar of the boss's health. I just switched out when I notice my health reached the yellow level. I quickly took out a potion and drank it as my HP started to regenerate slowly. I saw Aeri jump and preform a mad combo of quick devastating swings with her sword. With that we reached the final health bar of the Kobold King.

Dropping its axe and shield the beast roared furiously as it reached out for its second blade. This is it. The last stage of the boss. We are almost there. Diabel's group surrounded the beast and was ready to start attacking. With more howling and roars Illfang raised its blade skywards.

"Get ready!" Agil commanded as we all got in our defensive positions.

The demonic enemy jumped into the air and did crazy acrobatics before coming down with his blade first, attacking Diabel's group suddenly leaving them all incapacitated. Awe struck my group just stood there as we watched the hit points of Diabel's group go under the half percent.

"A-Attack!" Agil shouted.

Heeding his orders along with my team we all charged towards the beast as it recovered from using its skill. Before we could even reach it, it was already charging another skill. To no avail we reached the enemy too late. It had already launched an attack against Diabel, the very leader of this whole raid.

Illfang launched Diabel into the air above all the players fighting in the room. Diabel's health dropped some more, but it was nothing we could not recover from. But no one expected what happened next. Illfang jumped in the air and with its sword shining it hit Diabel three times with amazing speed. Diabel struggled helplessly while in the air.

Diabel was blasted towards the door of the room and slammed against the floor with brutal force. His HP gauge flashed red and I could no longer see him so far into the room. I felt someone pulling me forcefully as he saved me from one of the boss's attack.

"Be careful!" Said a familiar voice.

"Daath!" I gasp. "Holy fuck, you sure did take your sweet time."

He grins at me as he pulls out his sword. From the back of the room a flash of blue light was seen. Someone died, someone just died. Diabel? No…no way. I panicked a little and felt my legs shake a little as I still stood near the boss.

"We need to stand back, now!" Agil yelled.

Both group A and B started to push back to the entrance. I could hear screams of agony and despair as I myself, along with Daath began moving backwards. As we were moving backwards group G ran through us. The boy with black hair was rushing the boss with a sword skill at the ready. Beside him ran a girl with chestnut colored hair and a rapier at hand.

"They are going to take on the boss by their selves!" I shouted.

Agil heard me and stopped running while he stopped the group.

"Everyone! Forget running away, Attack!" He yells

I smile at him and got my sword ready to attack. I lost Daath from my sight, but it didn't matter. I breathed in deeply and shouted with all my might as I followed Agil into battle. He rushed towards the boss first and I was just some steps behind. I saw the black haired swordsman kneel as Illfang was about to strike him.

Agil ran faster and managed to block the beast's blow before it reached the swordsman. Incredibly Agil knocked back Illfang quite some distance and Agil himself almost didn't move from his spot.

"Drink your potion until it's finished. Group B is the bulwark, that hasn't changed!" Agil said to the swordsman.

"Don't surround the boss! If you do he'll used his ranged skills. You can take him one by one, just use your blocking and you can make so it doesn't even hit you!" The swordsman shouted in my direction.

Agil turned to me and with a grin signaled me it was my turn. Alright, let's do this. I placed my blade on my right side and saw it glow before turning my head to Illfang. Again, maybe just because of the sheer thrill of the battle I shouted my lungs out as I jumped to attack the boss. Hitting it successfully I dropped to the ground and saw as he prepared to attack me. I had no time to stand back and make a run for it, so I remembered the swordsman's words and placed my sword in front of me as I tried to read the boss's next move.

The few seconds it took for it to ready its attack felt like minutes to me. As soon as I saw the general direction in which his blade was traveling I swing my sword against it. Our weapons connected and I felt the repercussion of the strike as it traveled up my arm. Sparks flew around all about as I was able to overcome the boss's swing and make him stagger a little. Needless to say, I felt like a god as I did this.

"Switch!" I yelled just as another member of my group jumped in.

I jumped back and stood beside Agil as he nodded at me. I couldn't help but to grin and he did so too. Suddenly the battle had taken a turn for the positive, we were engaging the boss again and everyone who did so looked incredibly motivated. The swordsman that gave us the blocking tip stood back and started shouting the directions in which the boss was going to attack.

A giggle from behind the room made my head turn and I was able to see Aeri fighting alongside with Daath as they tried to take on some sentinels. They were switching in and out with an amazing speed and they gave no quarter to the enemy they were attacking.

"Get out of there! Now!" Shouted the swordsman.

One of the tanks in our group had fallen over behind the boss. With people behind and in-front of him the boss recognized this as being surrounded. Ilffang smirked and jump into the air as it roared violently. It was the same attack he used to neutralize Diabel's group. I looked at my hit points and gasped as I realized they were below fifty percent. This is it…I'm going to die.

Just as I was ready to accept my fate the black haired swordsman flew over us and hit Illfang with an amazing sword skill. He made the giant beast twist its body in the air as it plummeted down on its side.

"Everyone! Full Attack! Surround it now!" Our savior shouted.

I heard whirring sounds all around me and saw flashes of multiple colors as my whole group readied their sword skills.

"Let's do this!" I yelled.

We charged at the boss and surrounded it as we started unleashing our sword skills simultaneously. We started depleting the boss's HP as we attacked. Almost at the same time we all backed up as we let our cool down period start. We didn't even start to charge our next skills when the boss started to rise from the floor.

"It's now or never! Hit it with everything!" Agil yelled from the top of his lungs.

The whirring sound came back on and with a wild flash of colors we started pummeling Illfang again. Once again we entered the cool down period but the boss was still rising from the ground. As if everyone was thinking the same thing we all started to back up as the massive beast rose from the ground.

Suddenly, the girl with the rapier swished by my side as she launched herself in the air to attack the boss. She did a linear strike through the boss and dropped to the ground as the swordsman followed behind her with a similar technique. But his was different. Right as he sliced through the enemy he curled his weapon and drew a "V" on the boss as he nicked through his armor. And with that Illfang let out his final roar.

* * *

The boss had disappeared into little crystals of light as the black haired swordsman and his partner took a breath. Everyone including myself stood in awe as a shocking silence filled the air. With a "bloop" like sound a result screen appeared before me.

"Yeah! We did it!" Someone shouts.

Along with that the whole crowd of people starts celebrating and hugging each other. We had won, we really did win! Daath and Aeri joined me as Agil left to talk with the black haired hero.

"You ok, Al?" Daath asks me.

I nod and smile as I breathe in deeply.

"We did it man!" I say.

Aeri and Daath grin at me and we start clapping out of joy. Other people around join us in victory.

"Why?!" Someone shouts successfully breaking the victory mood.

We all turn to the source of the voice and see a scimitar user standing in the middle of everyone one with teary eyes. Behind him stand three other individuals who are also on the verge of crying.

"Why did you let Diabel die?!" He says with a wretched voice.

Diabel did die…the leader of the raid was gone. Deciphering where he was looking at I turn my head as my eyes meet the black haired swordsman.

"Let him…die?" He answers.

"Th-that's right! You know the bosses skills and moves, if you had given Diabel that information he wouldn't have died!"

What the hell was this guy talking about? Players all around started muttering things to each other and the atmosphere took a turn for the chaotic. The swordsman stood next to his partner and Agil with a confused expression.

"Wait…I know this guy! He is a beta tester!" Someone yelled from behind.

I heard people gasping and the muttering intensified. I maze wielding player stepped towards from my side and raised his hand to get everyone's attention.

"Even so, if he is a beta tester. Doesn't that mean he has the same information as the one posted in the strategy guide?" He says.

With his comment everyone grew quiet until another disturbed voice decided to speak.

"That's it! The strategy guide Argo gave us is nothing more than lies! That player is a beta tester after all, there's no way she would give away important information for free."

The room suddenly became a hornet's nest everyone started screaming at the black haired player and I was afraid this was seconds away from becoming another fight.

"What are these shitheads doing?" I ask.

Daath puts his hand on my shoulder and puts his finger over his lips. Quietly agreeing to shut up I turn to the growing turmoil of people in-front of me.

"A beta tester huh?" Said the black haired player. "Don't put me in the same category as those amateurs."

What? The player that started this whole discussion was just about to speak again but the swordsman interrupted him.

"Listen and listen well. SAO's closed beta had a low acceptance rate. Out of the one thousand people who were chosen, how many of them do you think were hardcore gamers? Most of them were pathetic newbies that didn't even know how to level up properly. Even you guys are better than them now." He says.

Every single soul in the room grew quiet and I felt Daath's hand apply some pressure on my shoulder. For some reason I felt this wasn't headed anywhere pretty.

"Do not dare to compare me with those beta testers." He continues. "During the beta testing period I reached floors no one else did. I learned the skills used by this very boss and had even more information than this Argo you are talking about."

"That's not even at the level of the beta testers! That's cheating, you are cheater!" Someone yelled.

People all around started shouting the words "cheater" and "beta tester". It took a few second but the shouts and screams suddenly gave birth to a new word. "Beater".

"That's right, I am a beater. And from now on…don't put me in the same category as those pathetic beta testers." Said the beater as he changed his coat for another on as black as night.

With those final words the beater turned his back on us and started walking towards the stairs in the end of the boss's room.

"That cheating bastard!" Aeri growls next to me.

"Daath…this guy-" I say.

Turning my head a little was all it took to see the face of my partner. Fueled by rage an angry frown took over his face. Never in my life had I've been so terrified to stand close to someone.

"That stupid idiot…" Daath mumbles.

The beater had long left us and Daath started running to the spiral staircase that was the only way into the second floor for now. Spacing out a little bit I stare as he rushes up the stairs.

"Let's follow him!" Aeri says as she pushes me forwards.

I nod and start sprinting to the stairs, I see Daath reach the top and forcefully pry the doors open. With Aeri tagging along behind me, we run up the stairs. Aeri quickly passes me and keeps running until she reaches the door.

"Come on, quickly!" She yells.

I pass her as she stands near the door and start going down a huge set of winding stairs. The Beater stands at the bottom with his menu open. He then closes it and starts walking away. I can see Daath is about to reach him. What in the world are you going to do Daath?

"You idiot, you realize what you just did?!" Daath yells.

The black coated player turns to him just as soon as I catch up with Daath and him at the bottom of the stairs. Not answering he just stand there without even muttering a word.

"We'll be hunted god dammit and it's your entire fault! You just did the coup de gras on our reputation as beta testers!" Daath says outraged.

"Daath is…a beta tester?" Arei asks me as she catches up.

I say nothing and keep my mouth shut as I watch the beater and Daath in-front of me.

"Didn't you hear me back there? I'm not like you, I'm a beater. Don't think you can compare yourself with me." Replied the swordsman.

Daath's frown became even scarier as he grinded his teeth together.

"Oh that is it…" Daath groaned.

He opened his menu and furiously going through it he sends a duel invite to the beater. Shocked at first the beater did nothing but then smiled.

"As you wish then." The beater replied.

* * *

Crysina here!

This chapter was incredibly exciting to write, I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

If you have something you just want to say or point out you can leave a review. I accept all kinds of feedback and comments.

Thank you for reading! See ya soon!


	7. Chapter 7 - Daath's Beater

**Chapter 7.- Daath's Beater**

**December- 4****th**** -2022**

**Daath**

"Half Loss Mode". It was like I didn't even care anymore. I just wanted to fight this smug-faced player in-front of me.

"Are you out of your fucking mind?" Says Al.

Maybe I am, but I won't stand while this guy ends bashing beta testers a new one. The black coated player accepts my duel invitation and the countdown appears with both of our names on top of us.

"Daath V.S. Kirito"

"You lied to me then? You are a beta tester as well." I hear Aeri say.

"It never popped up, I didn't lie." I reply. "But if you think I'm as bad as this guy, be my guest."

Her look becomes somewhat stern and I unsheathed my sword quickly. Kirito does the same and I stand in awe as we hold the same blade.

"So you go it too, huh?" I ask.

"Anneal Blade +6." He replies.

Mine is only +5. That thought travels around my head for way too long and I start getting a little nervous. It doesn't matter if his blade is better or not, it will all come down to who is the better swordsman. The level of his weapon only means his attack damage will be higher, but I can deal with. I definitely can.

"Al, go get Elina." I say.

"She can wait man, I'm not leaving un-"

"Go now, take Aeri with you." I order.

His face shows unwillingness but he turns and grabs Aeri's arm and pulls her upstairs. As I refocus I notice the countdown. Ten seconds left. Kirito stand in-front of just a few feet away holding his sword with one hand just like I do. His face is completely relaxed and he even looks a little too comfortable. Is it a kind of trick? Mind games perhaps?

"5"

I relax my hand and let my blade sway a little as I get on a ready position. No big deal, I can do this. I relax my boy a bit more and see as Kirito completely lowers his blade. What is he doing?

"4"  
"3"  
"2"  
"1"

Kirito completely sheathes his blade as the countdown reaches zero. He sighs and crosses his arms. Is this guy mocking me?

"What are you doing?" I ask.

"It is not within my intention to fight you." He replies calmly. "I was merely waiting for your friends to leave."

"What? Why?"

"Look, I did what I did for a reason. This new thing, this term "beater" will spare a lot of beta testers trouble."

If anything it would just make things harder for us, we would be judged without prejudice. They could even hunt us down more viciously like they've been doing. What Kirito was saying didn't make any sense in my head.

"Why would it? Soon enough we'll all be known as "Beaters", soon we'll be all treated the same again." I said angrily.

"That, you might be right. But as of now I am the only Beater, and that alone just saved a lot of beta testers." He says calmly.

I "tsk" at him and sheathe my sword slowly. His attitude pissed me off for some reason

"Then what was all that about? Back in the boss room, why?"

He looks at the ground and says nothing. He then goes to a nearby boulder and sit on it calmly.

"As I already said two times, it was to redirect the coming problems from beta testers to me alone." He mutters.

It took me a bit and I felt as he called me stupid when he said that. But it was a little true I didn't get his point until now. His plan was for the anger of all players be directed to Beaters in this case him and not to all of the beta testers. But why do something like that? Why sacrifice your self-security for that?

"Ok, I get it now. But why take the blame then?" I question.

He scrolls through his open menu a bit and takes a fruit out of his inventory. He grabs it and proceeds to take a bite of his now materialized apple.

"Simple really, I wouldn't want others to carry the burden of the one mistake I committed in the boss room." He says after swallowing.

"That mistake being?"

He takes another bite and stays silent for a few seconds as he gazes into the distant city of Urbus.

"The mistake being…the fact that I kept my mouth shut."

I find myself more puzzled than before, I don't know this guy nor his intentions and what he says just makes my mind boggle with questions as I try to make sense of what he even is trying to say. Did he really do it for all the beta testers or is it some kind of scheme that would only benefit him in the long run. I had no way of knowing this and I felt seriously annoyed at that fact.

"Do you really think you could've changed something of what happened back there?"

Kirito sighs loudly and his expression turns grim.

"I could've saved Diabel." He mutters.

"Is that it?"

He turns his face towards me with a confused look.

"I could've saved a live, why would you say something like that?"

"Diabel as you know him was nothing else but scum. A part of me is glad he is dead."

He stands up and his expression becomes puzzled as I notice some anger in it. He quickly gives me his back to hide it, but I'm more than certain I had hit a tender spot.

"You are glad…because of person's death?" He mumbles.

"Yes." I reply without hesitating.

"Heh…you really are scary."

I chuckle a bit and cross my arms as I move my feet a little getting on a more comfortable stance.

"I've heard that a little too often in the past days."

"I know about you, Datell."

I tense up suddenly and I can feel myself making an angry frown. He turns towards me again and now he crosses his arms and gives me a wide smirk.

"Why do you call him scum when you killed players?"

I clench my fist tight and try not to lunge at him.

"I only killed player killers." I reply.

"It is still player killing. Tell me, if it weren't because of the boss. Wouldn't you be planning to kill Diabel?" Says Kirito.

"I let him off with a warning, the boss only made it so he never had to cross it."

His smirk becomes even wider and he walks closer to me. He says nothing while doing so and he now stands less than two feet away from me. He eyes me a bit more as I try not to do anything impulsive. Hanging around Al must be rubbing on me more than I thought.

"Datell, the player killer killer." He says. "Too bad we won't be able to keep tabs on each other after this."

"Huh? Why wouldn't we? I assume we have a mutual friend that handles information." I reply.

"After this incident I very much doubt she'll be divulging any kind of info related to beta testers." He adds.

That made a little sense. Argo herself is a beta tester. So if anything she would want to disappear for a while at first. Later on it made sense for her not to sell any more info about beta testers since it would compromise her integrity as well.

"Alright, that's agreeable." I comment.

He nods and turns his back to me.

"Now, if you would be so kind to give up the duel."

My blood boils as I hear this.

"I don't just give up…beater." I say.

He freezes on the spot and reached to his back for his Anneal blade. He chuckles a bit as he turns to me yet again. I reach for my sword as well and place it in-front of me as I smile.

"This shall be interesting." Kirito says. "May the best man win then."

"Yeah, this is merely a display of skill." I reply.

He quickly dashes against me with his sword glowing. This takes me by surprise but I'm quick enough to barely parry his quick attack. I feel as our swords collide against each other and I jump back to get some room between him and myself.

"So eager to hurt someone." I mock.

"This is merely a display of skill, didn't you say that just now?" He says with a smile.

I find myself chuckling again as I hear my sword making its ready sound. With my sword now shining I get close to him making slow careful steps until he is near enough. Letting the system go about its business I let go and quickly connect a few blows with his sword. Tiny soars fly off as we swipe at each other and block our attacks.

I launch another attack and he parries it with a sword skill making my blade blow back more than I expected it to. Not wasting a second Kirito attacks my chest area as I try to get away. He managed to connect 3 swipes and I find my health awfully close three quarters full.

"Nice counter attack." I huff.

He only smiles and stand there with his sword in-front of him as if he as trying to read my mind. He looks relaxed and flowing, I cannot picture myself fighting as he does. He looks so calm so…ready.

Doing some quick steps towards me he attacks me but leaves an opening for me. I dodge his blade my ducking and make my sword whir as I manage a skyward slice right on his center. A critical hit. This drops his health absurdly close to half and makes me throw a fit in my head for leaving it that close.

"You got some nice moves yourself, Datell." He groans.

"The name is Daath." I reply with anger.

We start circling each other, both with our swords at the ready go around each other not making another move other than the circular strafe.

"I wonder how long can you run from your past. Something tells me you enjoyed doing what you did." He mocks.

I suppress the urge to attack blindly from his taunt and keep moving in a circle as he does the same.

"Datell is dead. This is the new me!"

Filled with anger I see him move and start running towards him with the intention of attacking him. Hanging around Al definitely rubs on. He quickly dodges my attack and delivers the final blow of the duel right in my stomach. This drops my HP below half and I just kneel immediately, admitting defeat.

"I'll take my leave now." He says while turning around.

"Hey beater…" I mumble.

He stops for a second and tilts his head in intent of hearing me out. I sheathe my sword and get on my feet as I fumble through my pockets looking for a potion.

"Good fight." I mutter.

He returns his head to its original position and starts walking away towards the city of Urbus. It was a great duel, if it wasn't because I got ahead of myself I might have even won. But it's in the past now. I walk over to the nearby boulder and sit on it as I hang my head. I punch the rock I'm sitting on and sigh loudly, loud enough as if I was hoping someone could hear me.

A smile suddenly washes the anger away as I notice where I'm contextually sitting. The second floor, we finally made it. After a month almost, we are finally here. I grin to myself and relax as I place my arms around my neck.

The second floor is brutally different from the first. As an avid player I think it's only common sense to expect this, given that's just how games go. You are in a forest area and all of the sudden the next level is in a cave fool of lava. SAO kind of has this kind of drastic alterations but it at least tries to make the escalation between levels somewhat believable.

High peaks and an almost arid landscape displays itself before my eyes as I look away towards Urbus. The second floor mostly consists of oddly shaped mountains and weird craters. As in atmosphere the second floor is incredibly gloomy, it gave off the same feeling Starting City was giving out when I visited it not long ago. The background music changes too, for bad or worse it just makes this floor feel even darker.

"Daath!"

I turn my head to the stairs and see Elina rushing down the stairs, Al is following not far from her. Almost at the very top of the stairs I manage to spot Aeri. She is slowly going down the steps it looked as if she was trying to keep her distance from the group.

"I'm so happy you are ok." Says Elina as she approaches me.

I smile and stand up from the boulder to greet her properly, but as soon as she reaches me she pushes me with all her strength.

"Why didn't you guys tell me you were going to the boss fight though?" She complains.

"We didn't want you worrying so much, it seemed…logical." I answer.

She pouts and Al finally reaches the bottom of the stairs.

"Where's the dude with the black coat?" He asks.

"He left just a few minutes ago."

"Did you win?" He asks.

I move my head sideways as it hangs a little. Al looks surprised and I notice a hint of shock on Elina's face.

"Fuck…I thought you were the best player out there. It seemed like so at least…so far." Al mutters.

"You didn't get hurt badly did you?" Elina asks concerned.

I pat her head and sway my head sideways. She smiles and hugs me gently.

"So Mr. Beater." Says Aeri.

"What?" I reply.

She proceeds to look away from as she gets closer and makes that annoying sound of discontent as she get closer.

"Are you a sum bag beta tester like that other guy?" She snaps at me.

I smirk at her and chuckle a bit.

"I haven't killed you yet have I?"

Elina immediately stops hugging and backs away a few steps and I see Al raise his eyebrow. Did I just seriously say that out loud?

"Dude what the fuck did you just say…?" Says Al.

"Err…sorry I'm just not in the mood." I mumble. "Look Aeri, I'm not a beater…although I'll surely be known as one soon. I'm not like the other guy. I helped you so far anyways haven't I?"

She nods in an unsure manner and gets her black hood off her face. She grabs her chin and looks away a little. She is incredibly docile sometimes.

"Well….I guess you are right. You are…well a good man I guess." She admits. "Don't say stuff like that again though…you seriously scared me."

I see Elina nod along with her and shrug a little as I think back on that phrase I said moments ago.

"So how did you lose to this guy?" Aeri asks.

"I really don't want to talk about it."

She backs away and I start walking in the general direction of Urbus. I start hearing as everyone tags along behind me. They are talking behind me but I'm too deep into my thoughts to care. Kirito, this beater. What did he mean by how long I could run from my past?

His words troubled me greatly, they spun wildly around my head as we kept walking. Datell was not any kind of multiple personality. It was just my past player character. No one chooses to act like their true self when playing games. They are a form of escapism, you go to games to become that you cannot be in the real world.

It suddenly hit me across the face. Datell the character I created. Did I use it as a surrogate? Did I use it to escape reality and become a murdering vigilante? It all made a horrifying amount of sense to the point it spooked me. I shook my head violently and pinched the part of my nose located between my eyes.

I am not Datell…I do not have some kind of identity disorder. I am Daath…I am…another character I created…

"Daath, are you ok?" Elina asks.

"Yeah…yeah. I'm fine." I struggle to say.

She purses her lips and pouts. I got too much going on my head I can even focus on walking. I stop dead and stand there without doing a thing.

"Are you sure…?" Elina asks.

I nod as I come back to reality and start walking again. The city of Urbus is just a few minutes away and its crater becomes clearly visible. As I keep walking I realized something, something that scared me even more. I lied to Kirito. As Datell I did enjoy killing player killers. It felt as if I were some kind of corrupted hero, making the right thing in my own way. In my own twisted way.

But it now had consequences I would never be able to kill in this game again without the moral heaviness of actual murdered. In a disgusting way….this troubled me.

"Seriously, what the hell is going on with you now?" Al says.

"I said I'm fine, I just need some rest." I reply harshly. "I'll head to the inn right away, you guys should go to the main plaza, maybe open the gate while you are at it."

As quick enough as I was able to say that a sprung off and started running towards the entrance of Urbus. As I run a quickly message Argo. I want to talk with her…maybe she'll give me some god dammed therapy like she did last time. Tired and out of breath I reach the inn, I walk inside and see the NPC in charge of it.

"I'll rent out a room please."

She nods with a gentle smile and I transfer over the Col. As I walk to my room I start feeling heavy and get a painful headache. I barely manage to open the door and stumble inside to sit on the chair near the bed.

"I'm not having a stupid nervous breakdown." I mutter to myself.

Finally sitting down I change to my town clothes and feel relieved as the somewhat heavy armor is removed off my body. I sit and breathe in and out as slowly as I possibly can. The headache starts to fade away slowly and I feel more relaxed as I exhale air.

I stand up and peek out my window, I hear a faint sound coming from the street. Adjusting my view a little I see a few players coming from the plaza. I can hear shouts of joy and people laughing as I see more players flood the street. It would seem like someone other than my party opened the gate at Urbus plaza. This would allow players waiting back at Starting City to reach the second floor without having to go through the maze. I feel happy at that fact and sit again on my chair.

I hear a knock on the door and stand up to open it. A see a hooded player right before and she smirks at me widely.

"Whiskers, that was faster than expected." I say.

"I do move fast." She replies. "What do you need this time?"

I smile and signal her to come on.

"Well, I'm not looking for information this time. I'll tell you that much."

* * *

Crysina here!

This was rather short chapter, but I tried to make it more focused around Daath's identity which you will find out more about later on. I would also like to make note that I am not home right now. So I'll still write for you guys but I won't be able to upload as I do since well, hotel internet services are a rip-off but I'll be sure to make some time aside to keep updating.

If you have something you just want to say or point out you can leave a review. I accept all kinds of feedback and comments.

Thank you for reading! See ya soon!


	8. Chapter 8 - Two Sides To The Coin

**Chapter 8.- Two Sides To The Coin**

**December -4****th****-2022**

**Daath**

Talking to Argo takes quite some time if you are not looking for information. Luckily I assume I have grown inside her to the point she doesn't mind giving me some sort of life counseling. The life in SAO so far has been a tough one. The ever looming presence of death can be overwhelming but I guess you just have to learn to live with it. And treat it like a friend.

It is an odd feeling but it's all any player has for sure right now. As long as we have the NerveGear strapped to our heads death can come from everywhere. It can come from the monsters you need to fight, from the players you'll encounter, pretty much from every aspect in this game of death. And the most terrifying thing of it all is that it can also come from the real world, with no warning at all. It is truly scary.

"There's really nothing to worry your dumb head about you know." Argo says.

I rub my forehead and rest my weight on my elbows as I slump a little.

"You really think so? The little time it took me to reach Urbus thoughts just plagued my brain, I'm tired and this headache seems to have become a recurring thing." I reply.

She pats my back a few times and gets off the chair she was sitting on. For the first time in all the time I've known her she gives me a sincere smile and puts her hood back on her head.

"Just don't lose yourself alright? You are who you are, if that makes any sense to you." She says. "Character or not you have to be true to yourself at some point."

Her words confuse me somewhat more than they managed to clear up. But in some way I feel they'll eventually make sense. I nod at her and she makes her to the door of the dark room.

"Hey, whiskers."

She stops and turns her head to me.

"Thank you, I appreciate you took the time to meddle with me." I finish.

"All in a day's work." She says as she leaves the room.

I sat back on my chair and breathe in and out deeply a few more times. I'm a mess of a person right now but I hope to at the very least be able to pretend I'm not in a convincing manner. A beeping sound alerts me and I see it is a message. Opening it surprised me as it from the person I least expected to receive this kind of message.

From: Aeri  
To: Daath  
Subject:-  
Message: Are you doing alright? Al and Elina left to god knows where. So, how about we meet at the town's square? There's some kind of party/celebration thing going on.

I smile at the fact that even after that weird sort of quarrel we had when entering the first floor I didn't destroy our relationship. I reply agreeing to meet her and leave my room with my weapons and armor stashed away in my room's storage. It had been a while since I felt this light. I usually go to sleep with some other shirt since sleeping in armor is quite uncomfortable. But walking around in town clothes felt really nice.

I felt more agile and swift for some reason. Stepping out of the inn I was able to see what Aeri meant by celebration in her message. This was the true meaning of a Town Opening. Players, hundreds of them drowned the street, cheers of joy and shouts of happiness could be heard loudly on the street level. What would usually look like a deserted city back in the beta looked like a flourishing carnival of celebration.

Walking down the street just made me feel incredibly lively, it may sound dumb, but it really did. People all around were singing, laughing, hugging it was an amazing view. For the first time in almost a month everyone was happy. It was as if for a second everyone forgot we were trapped. I was happy and overjoyed as well. We had finally beaten the first floor and we were going head first into the second one, it was an amazing feeling. But then again that feeling of fear and dread didn't seem to leave my mind completely.

"Hey! Daath!"

A few steps away from me I see Aeri running towards me with something in her hand. As she gets closer I'm able to see she is eating something out of a stick which she held in her right hand. The thought combined with the sight itself made me awfully hungry all of the sudden.

"Having fun huh?" I say

She nods with a smile and finishes her food eliminating any hope I had of stealing some from her.

"This is amazing, I never thought I could have so much fun around tons of people!" She says.

"That is…a very odd statement." I reply. "Anyways, what's up?"

"Nothing really, I just want to talk about a few things." She replies.

"What do you want to talk about?"

She turns away from me and starts walking slowly, having no other choice I follow behind as we walk through the loads of people.

"So you are a beta tester right?" She asks.

Why doesn't this surprise me…

"Yes, I am." I answer.

She keeps walking and stops at a vendors mat to buy something. I see her go through the shop's menu, scrolling up and down as she hums some song which for some reason I vaguely remember.

I knew the topic would arise but she is either tricking me or just showing the weirdest kind of interest I've ever seen.

"So can you tell me now why is it that you didn't tell me about it earlier?"

I open the vendor's menu as I start looking for some potions myself. I try to avoid the question, hoping she would change it or something, but she just asks again.

"So? Are you going to tell me?" She insists.

I sigh as I buy my stuff.

"Why is it that you want to know? Will it change anything?"

She buys something as well and opens her menu to rearrange stuff in her inventory. I'm starting to find her weird way of asking something and then doing something else very annoying. She doesn't mind me for a few seconds and starts humming again.

"It won't change a thing, I'm just curious to know about you." She says before resuming her humming.

I swear to god I know this song. She closes her menu and starts walking again. Sure enough I start treading behind her. I group of players passes next to us. They are screaming loudly as they tease each other going down the street.

"If it won't change a thing why do you insist?"

She huffs at me and picks up her pace a little.

"You sure have a way to go around questions, Mr. Beater."

I reach out for her and grab her shoulder turning her face towards me.

"Don't you call me that." I grunt to her face.

Her expression is blank and she merely pushes me away slightly.

"You don't scare me." She huffs.

"That's because you don't know me." I reply.

"Or perhaps because you don't let me know about you."

I stare at her for a brief moment and hang my head.

"Fine, I'll give you ten minutes of my time. Shoot."

Aeri's face suddenly bright up and she starts walking again as she hums another tune.

"So first things first, why did you keep it from me?"

"It seemed like the best thing to do. I didn't want any unwanted attention."

"Oh, perhaps…Do I scare you?" She replies with a smirk.

While she is a very strong and kind of psychotic player I wouldn't exactly say she scares me. She is powerful but not to the point it would actually scare someone off.

"Not the case, it just seemed better at the time. I really don't know how to express it any better." I add.

She nods in approval as we reach the very center of Urbus. Players still are coming out of the gate connected to the first floor. It is an amazing sight. Seeing flashes of blue light as more happy faces pop into the city, it really is something.

I keep walking a little behind her when she decides to sit down on a nearby bench. I stare at her for a few seconds before she pats the free part of the bench, signaling me to sit next to her.

"Something tells me you treat Al really differently." I say as I sit down.

"Al has his things but he is always mad so I just treat him like he treats me." She says.

"You got a point there." I reply.

We stay silent for a minute or two and just take in the overall mood of the town. Aeri's body starts shinning as she changes clothes in the middle of town. Putting her armor away she now sits next to me with a long skirt and red blouse with a golden pattern over it. It accents her figure, and I'll be damned if it didn't make for a good sight.

"You look good." I mutter.

"My my, have I caught your attention?" She says with a forced accent.

"Don't take a compliment for more than it is." I snap back.

She chuckles a bit and looks up to the night sky.

"Well, second question. Why did you leave all of the sudden?"

Another question I really don't want to answer.

"Are you absolutely sure you want to know?" I comment.

"I don't know, do I?"

"Not really…trust me."

She hangs her head and crosses her arms.

"Alright I'll try not to push on that matter." She says. "Can you tell me your real name then?"

"No names Aeri, we already settled that." I sigh.

"Fine fine, whatever." She grunts. "What CAN you tell me about yourself then?"

There's very little I'm actually willing to give up to her. But then a thought arises. If I just told her a lot about me excluding the part when I left to talk with Argo, maybe, just maybe she'll stop asking questions.

"I'm sixteen years old, I like playing soccer and videogames. My likes in music aren't that interesting, I just listen to whatever the hell I want to. I don't have a specific genre I like. I have a dog and three cats at home. I have a bed ridden sister who is ill who I take care of with my mother. M house isn't too big. It has two floors with limited space to do stuff, although I do have a rather big yard." I say and take a brief pause. "I worked two part time jobs in the real world, both which I hated. I am a former beta tester of SAO and have been living along with a grumpy guy and clumsy little girl for the last month or so. Recently I've made an addition to the group of people I hang out with, who turned out to be a rather psychotic, bi-polar, spontaneous girl. Who just happens to be sitting next to me. Oh and I enjoy long walks on the beach."

She looks my way with a perplex expression.

"Too much information?" I mock.

"Maybe…" She mutters. "Psychotic? Bi-polar? Really?"

"You laugh while you are killing stuff." I say.

She puts her hand up to her chin and nods slowly.

"Huh…I can see why you think that now."

I look around and see Al and Elina walking together heading towards us. All too suddenly Aeri changes to her armor and sits up straight. And she seriously asks why I said the stuff I did.

"What brings your ugly face around here?" She asks loudly.

Al immediately makes a frown and rubs his forehead a little with his left hand. Elina just keeps walking with a smile on her face.

"Nothing really, I was just hoping to avoid you for the rest of the day." He snarls as he sits next to me.

"Oh, so you were on a date with little Eli." Aeri teases.

Elina's face flushes wildly as she tries to look away from us. Al's expression remains unchanged and he just leans his back on the bench.

"I-it's not like that…" Says Elina.

"I'm kidding sweetie, of course you are not going out with the grumpy man." Aeri says and laughs a little.

"What were you guys doing anyway?" I ask.

Al puts one of his elbows on his knees as he leans over it and her expression changes to a serious one.

"Someone is following us." He mutters.

Elina nods slowly as she looks around nervously.

"We think its Klaus's gang thing." Elina mutters with a soft voice.

"The White Snakes?" I say.

They both nod and Al quickly points towards one of the alleyways that can be seen from where we are sitting.

"See?" He exclaims.

I strange white silhouette quickly cowers back into the alley as I turn my head to see.

"The White what?" Aeri asks.

"It's just a soon to be guild we had trouble with some days back." Al comments.

"Yeah, Al punched the leader right in the face in-front of a crowd of people."

Aeri chuckles a bit.

"Well they have reasons to be following you then. I guess…"

Al nods and stands up.

"What do we do?" He says.

I stand up as well and put my hand on Al's shoulder. Aeri stands as well while Elina places herself next to Al.

"How about some interrogation?" I say jokingly.

Aeri and Al both laugh in a macabre way and step forwards.

"Alright." They say at the same time.

Oh…shit.

"Let's go." Al says to Aeri.

She nods and they start running towards the alley. Elina tugs hard on my shirt and stares at me with a putting face.

"What on earth did you just do?!" She says out loud.

I shrug as I start running to the alley myself. I managed to make the run into it just to catch Al making his way up a ladder leading to the roof tops. Hoping that Elina is just behind me I start going up the ladder myself.

As I make it to the last few bars I can see the flat roof top and Aeri giving fast chase to the white figure. The roofs in Urbus are roughly the same size so it makes for a rather traversable landscape over the streets. I get on the roof top and start running behind Al.

Aeri manages to catch up with the guy dressed in white and tackles him violently. Al catches up as well and holds the man on the ground by putting his knee on the man's back. Elina appears from behind me and helps Aeri from the ground.

"Let me go ya bastards!" The man shouts.

"Who are you and why are you following us?!" Al asks.

The man struggles helplessly under his weight as Elina gets behind me as if she was scared. I pat her back gently and kneel to see the face of the white clothed spy.

"Are we going to need to use force?" I say in a low tone.

The man's eyes widen quickly as he tries even harder to get Al off of him.

"Ok, one more time. Who are you and why are you following us?" Al presses.

The man struggles for a few seconds, groaning and moving below Al. He stops moving and places his forehead on the floor.

"If I tell you…will you let me go?" He mumbles.

"Well that is up to us, but I don't see why there wouldn't be a chance." I comment.

The man sighs loudly and hides his face.

"I was merely hired by a man, his name is Klaus."

Al smiles as he hears this and pushes the man's face wildly into the floor. Elina stands back a bit more and cowers behind Aeri now.

"Are you with the White Snakes as well?!" Al yells.

"Didn't you fucking hear me? I said he only hired me to follow you!" The man groans.

"So what were you supposed to do after you spied on us?" I question.

The man proceeds to hide his face and starts laughing.

"I'm just the decoy."

I hear a loud shriek from behind me and see about eight men dressed in white as they grab Elina and Aeri. Aeri struggles forcefully but with more than three guys trying to hold her down she is quickly subdued.

Al screams loudly and jams the man's face against the floor a couple of time before kicking him away from him.

"You bastards! You won't get away with this!" Al screams.

I reach for my back and I don't remember I didn't bring my weapon with me until I try to grasp thin air behind my back. Dammit.

Elina tries to get away from the men's hold but her struggle is to no avail as she is considerable smaller than the scum holding her.

"Well well, what have we here?" Says a voice behind the group of people.

Al's face is filled with rage and anger as he hears this voice and unsheathes his blade quickly.

"What do you want with them?! They didn't do anything bad to you!" Al screams.

"They didn't, but you did." Says the voice as he finally steps out from behind his minions. "And they are precious to you. And I just want to fuck over your day."

The man Al had described as Klaus is visible in-front of me now. A prick like attitude and red hair, with a face you just want to punch.

"Now, let's have a little test shall we?" Says Klaus as he unsheathes his sword.

He proceeds to slowly place it under Aeri's neck and presses it slightly. Al stays put and only frowns at Klaus. It seemed as he had intent of killing him right now. I would fully support his actions, but without a blade I was useless.

"Interesting." Klaus mumbles.

Then he quickly switches his blade to Elina's throat and places it forcefully against her. Al huffs and takes a few steps forward as he raises his blade but stops.

"Haha, so it's her huh?" Klaus mocks. "Leave the other girl, we are taking this one."

Aeri kicks away the men holding her and jumps towards Al and holds him in place.

"He can't hurt her here Al, we are outnumbered let think this through for a second." Aeri says while trying to get Al not to move.

"I won't let him take her! Let me go!" Al shouts.

I quickly run to aid Aeri and hold Al's arms as he struggles to get free.

"Let me go idiots! Let me go!" He screams.

"You'll hear from me soon, Alshep." Says Klaus before jumping off the roof.

His people quickly follow and the men holding Elina quickly disappear from our sight. Al stops struggling and he drops to his knees. Aeri stops holding him and sits in-front of him. I let go as well and grab my head with both hands as I try to think that what just occurred just didn't happen.

"You fucking…idiots…" Al groans.

"Come on, there were like ten of them even if we did engage them, aside that we couldn't have done a thing since we are in a safe zone we would've lost." Aeri says.

"What if they take her outside a safe zone, they are going to hurt her…" Al murmurs.

"There's nothing we could've do-"

Al stands up quickly and is holds Aeri up in the air with both of his hands around her neck.

"You are right! There's nothing you two could've done because you are cowards!" He yells.

I decide to intervene and punch him on the face from the side making him drop Aeri.

"No, we are not cowards. We are just not stupidly impulsive like you." I say. "Look you big idiot, he'll contact us soon enough. I'm pretty sure he'll want some kind of ransom for her. I promise you we'll get Elina back safe."

He clenches his fist and lifts his arm a little ready to punch me back. He stops midway and lets his arm hang as he accepts what I said.

"You better be a man of your word." He says with a sour tone.

I nod at him and help him stand up as Aeri stands behind me.

"I got a message." Al exclaims.

I look back at Aeri who is rubbing her neck and back to Al as he stand with his menu open as he reads.

"So what does it say?" I ask.

"He wants one hundred thousand Col…" He says. "By tomorrow at the latest…"

It suddenly becomes hard to swallow as I hear this and find myself holding my head again.

"Screw that." Says Aeri. "Did he say where to meet him?"

"Yes, in a set of destroyed ruins, a few minutes away from Urbus." Al adds.

"Look, if the meeting point is there, Elina must at the very least be nearby." Aeri comments. "I say screw the money, we should go get her back ourselves."

Aeri's point made some sense but doing so would be risking Elina's life. There was no human way to get that amount of Col in such a short notice.

"Alright…let's do that." Al mutters.

"Wait what? You do know we would be risking Eli's life right?" I say.

Al nods and gives me a wide smirk as he picks up his blade from the floor. Aeri is smiling as well, that really wicked smile of her quickly takes over her face. Well at the very least these two understand each other in violence. I sigh loudly and place my palm in my forehead.

"Are you two absolutely sure about this?" I sigh. "This whole idea of yours might as well turn you into red players."

"I don't care as long as we get Elina back." Al grunts.

Aeri nods along with him and looks at me.

"She is special to you…huh?" I ask.

"We've shared a lot…I'll say that much." He says.

Aeri's expression turns to a heartwarming one as she places her hand on Al's shoulder.

"Don't worry, we'll get her back." She says. "I promise."

I notice Al smile a little and he chuckles a bit.

"You bet we will." I say to help the mood a little.

We get off the roof and return to the inn in order to get my armor and weapon back. I quickly change and meet with Al and Aeri who are sitting at a table with a familiar figure.

"Argo?"

She lifts her head and smiles at me.

"The word is that your friend fell into some kind of misfortune." She says.

"Hell…do news really get around that fast?" I ask.

She nods politely and smiles.

"I'm willing to lend a hand." She adds.

I smile and sit at the table they are having the little meet up at.

"So what's the plan?"

* * *

Crysina here!

I'm so sorry for the late update guys. I have very little time to use the internet connection where I'm at and I exclusively use it to update this chapter. I hope to return soon to my usual schedule. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

If you have something you just want to say or point out you can leave a review. I accept all kinds of feedback and comments.

Thank you for reading! See ya soon!


	9. Chapter 9 - Hostage

**Chapter 9.- Hostage**

**December – 5****th**** – 2022 1:20 AM**

**Alshep**

I could feel the cold dirt beneath my stomach, it was a weird, yet pleasant feeling. I wouldn't exactly say I was comfortable but it wasn't half bad either. It's rather hard to explain.

"What am I supposed to do again?"

I sigh to myself, this is not the place for the kind of chatter she just happens to spill out of her hole. This is serious and there's a life on the line.

"You just tag along with me while Daath distracts the guys near the entrance." I reply.

Aeri nods and stares into the ruins not far in-front of us. She is lying next to me, we decided to make a silent approach from one of the sides of the ruins. Mostly unguarded, the place is just a few minutes away from Urbus. Klaus asked me for money and in exchange we would get Elina back.

"You really do care about her…huh?" She asks softly.

I breathe in deeply and hold my breath a little before answering.

"Yes, she does. We've spent a lot of time together and we know a lot of each other. And I'll be damned if I let anyone hurt her." I reply.

"Is this at all romantic?" Aeri says.

"The most inappropriate shit comes out of your mouth every time the situation is serious." I say. "She is just the closest friend I have as of now. And I've promised her too much. These promises are on the line today. I will get her back."

Aeri's face for the first time in quite a long while shows an "I'm taking this seriously" expression. This pleases me and for some reason puts me at ease.

"One last question." She mutters.

"Fine…what is it?" I answer.

She turns her head towards me and rests her chin on her palm.

"What did you promise her? Tell me one promise." She says with a small smile.

I know for a fact she won't back down if I don't answer. I made a few promises to Elina, in the top of my head I remember a few. I would try my best to enjoy life here, no matter how hard it could be. I would eat at the very least once a day. I would try to tone down my grump attitude. And the most important of them all.

"I promised her she would live see the end of this game."

Aeri smile widely and pats my shoulder, I feel her expression is genuine and smile a bit before returning my sight to the ruins.

All the time I had been laying on the ground I had not been able to get one thought out of my head. What if she is dead already? I had just a horrible feeling dwelling all over my body. The uncertainty of not knowing whether I was going to see her again or not was killing me. I did not have her as a party member before she was abducted so I had no way of knowing if she was still alive. I had an awful knot in my throat that just kept tightening up as time passed. The only way I would be able to know if she had died if things turned for the worse was to visit that monument back at Starting City. There was no way I was doing that before looking for her myself.

Daath is nice enough to snap me out of my thoughts as he kneels down close to my left side. He looks calm and collected, hell he always looks like that. If I admire something about him is how he is able to keep his cool at any time. Except for that one time with the so called beater.

"Ok…are you guys sure you want to do this?" He asks.

Aeri and I nod slowly.

"Alright. Remember, try to avoid hurting these players. You have a minimum of two strikes if you choose to engage in combat. By simply attacking them your cursor will turn orange for a while. More attacks than those two and you will immediately turn your cursor into a permanent orange." He says quietly. "If you want the get your ticket punched even faster, you'll have to kill one of them. Although I hope none of you are striving for that."

"It is a risk I'm willing to take. If Klaus hurt her, he'll answer to me." I murmur.

Daath breathes out and puts his hand on my shoulder.

"I know you want to hurt him badly right now, but it isn't worth it man." He explains. "Let's just get Elina and get out."

"You are seriously saying it as if it were to be easy." Aeri mumbles.

"If what Argo told us is true. There should only be five snakes here, including Klaus." He answers.

"Can we really trust this friend of yours?" I question.

"I trust her with my life." He says.

I have not met this woman Argo before, but apparently she is an information broker and a close friend of Daath. I have no reasons to trust her, other that she supplied us with the information that pointed to what seems to be the place where Elina is being held up.

For all I know Argo could be with The White Snakes and this is nothing but an elaborate trap to get back at me. But given how close I am to possible death I guess I got no other choice but to trust her.

"When do we start then?" Aeri asks.

"Now. I'll get into position and once I distract the three guys at the entrance you two make haste and go inside." He comments. "Once in, there should only be one other guy and Klaus. Please…try you best no to kill them or get yourselves killed, alright?"

"Aye aye boss." I say trying to lighten the mood a little.

I can hear Aeri giggle a bit and Daath smile as he gets up. He soon disappears behind us. Aeri and I carefully watch the guys at the entrance. Three blokes dressed in white eating something near a camp fire they set near some barrels.

"There he is." Aeri whispers while pointing towards the three guys.

Daath is walking up the main road to the ruins. If I didn't knew him I would guess he was doing something stupid. But he doesn't do stuff without thinking it through. While his move seems dangerous I know for sure he's got something up his sleeves. He stops for a brief moment and bends over as if he was picking something up from the floor.

He straightens back up and tosses what looks like a rock into the air and catches it with his fist as it comes down. His hand suddenly glows blue and even from far away I can see him smiling.

An audible "huh?" can be heard from the guys guarding the ruins. The stand up and stand next to each other as they stare into what I assume they can only see as a blue flash of light. Daath places his hand behind his head and skips towards the guys a little. He moves swiftly in a straight line and suddenly stops as he moves his upper body forwards. Just like a baseball pitcher would do.

I hear a faint whirring noise and see a line of blue light quickly close distance to the entrance as it hits one of the guard right on his face. The impact knocks him back and his friends draw their weapons.

"Haha, I didn't know you could use skills on rocks." Aeri laughs.

"Me neither, I swear that guy just doesn't seize to impress me."

Daath quickly starts getting some distance from the ruins as the three guards blindly follow him into the darkness of the night.

"We are up, let's go." Aeri says before dashing towards the ruins.

I get on my feet quickly and follow her as a draw my sword. She hits the wall with her back and stops to look around as I reach her. I stick to the wall as well and she finally decides to draw her sword. She looks at me and I nod, she nods as well and starts walking slowly to reach the corner of the wall. As we shuffle along the wall the light from the fire makes things a little more visible. I tighten the grip on my sword as I feel I'm getting closer to Klaus. I just want to bash his head. Sadly this game doesn't really have any gore. So whatever this comes down to will have to suffice.

We reach the end of the wall and Aeri peeks quickly and hides away.

"It looks clear." She whispers.

I nod at her and she goes around the corner and hugs the wall as she gets closer to the entrance. I get off the wall for a bit and walk over to the fire to extinguish it, it was giving us too much light and the last thing I wanted was for someone to spot us from far away. I quickly kick the logs away from each other and step on the little flames as they start get dimmer and dimmer.

As the last little flame is about to go out I notice something shine bluish near the ground. I kneel quickly and brush some dirt off the top of the object.

"What are you doing? We need to go in now." Aeri grunts.

I pick up the object and finally notice it's the Azure Buckler I gave Elina as a gift not too long ago. A sudden surge of rage runs wildly through my body as I tuck it away in my inventory. I use my sword as a support to get quickly off my knees and walk quickly over to the ruins entrance. Aeri tries to grab my arm but I brush it away as I walk inside the dark structure.

"Don't do this idiot, don't act on impulse." She says as she puts her arms around my waist successfully stopping me.

"I am going to kill him." I huff out.

"Look if you go in there without thinking about you'll probably get her killed." She says.

I stop struggling and lower my blade a little. She can be quite on the spot sometimes. As long as she is not talking nonsense that is. I grab her hands and pull them away from me as I turn to face her.

"What do you suggest then?" I say.

She smiles and giggles a little as she walks past me. My whole body tells me that number of actions together cannot really mean anything good.

"Just follow my lead big guy." She says.

"This kind of crap you try to pull off sometimes…I really despise it." I complain.

She laughs again, now on a lower voice and get close to the wall as we are about to reach a corridor with some kind of light shining from the end of it. A shadow coming from the other end of it becomes visible and we stop immediately to asses our next move.

"You think that's the other guy or is it Klaus?" I whisper.

Aeri shrugs and reaches the end of the wall. She peeks quickly and then with a fast turn she places her back on the other side of the corridor. She now stands next to me but across from where the light is shining off. She looks at me and makes some hands gestures. Something I might had understood if I remotely knew what the fuck she was trying to say.

"What?"

She places her palm on her forehead and closes her eyes. It is not my fault I didn't take the signing class before the operation you stupid girl. She slides down the wall until she is almost sitting and proceeds to knock on the wall loudly, this takes me by surprise and the sudden impulse of hitting her for giving us away comes to mind. She stares at me fiercely and lifts three of her fingers up.

Looking at the light coming deep from the corridors I see as the shadow becomes smaller. Whoever is on the other side is getting close. I get closer to the wall, almost wishing the thing had a little room I could hide in. Aeri now holds two fingers up and is mouthing something. The tension of the moment makes me realize she is counting down something. The tip of a spear suddenly becomes visible from inside the corridor and Aeri drops down another finger. She shuffles towards me still on the floor and mouths the word "now" slowly.

Not really knowing what she wanted me to do I tackle the spear wielding guy who is now positioned next to Aeri. As I'm pushing his upper body Aeri stops his legs from being able to walk back. This helps me knock him down easily and Aeri quickly gets away from behind him as he falls. As our bodies hit the ground I punch the man in the face. Aeri quickly shoves me away and places herself on top of the man putting her hands over his mouth to prevent him from screaming.

"Go now, I got this ok?" She says.

I nod and kick away the man's spear to stop him from trying to reach it. With my sword in hand I walking down the corridor that had some torches lighting it. A door in the end of it is closed. I approach the door and place my ear on it. I did not have a high listening level, but it was decent enough to let me hear some stuff through not too thick stuff.

I was able to hear someone crying. It was definitely Elina, I've heard her enough times with her voice wrapped like that that it was easy to recognize. I was about to kick the door in when Aeri's words came back to mind.

I place my free hand on the knob and turned it slowly. I pushed the door open a little and was able to see into the room through the small opening I made. It was just enough to let me see Elina kneeling on the floor with her arms tied to her back and his mouth covered with some kind of cloth. Tears were flowing out of her eyes and she didn't stop crying. Her armor was damaged and her face had some dirt on it. I was doing my best to hold back that urge to burst inside and kill Klaus. But then, our eyes met.

Elina stopped crying and she opened her eyes widely. I could already see her smile even with the piece of cloth preventing her from showing me.

"Did you finally stop feeling sorry for yourself?" Said a male voice.

Klaus slowly came into the picture and blocked my view of Elina. All I could see was his back.

"Did you finally accept the fact that you are going to die?" He continued. "Just a few more hours and if I don't get what I want…your pretty head is coming off."

I opened the door some more, I did this slowly while trying not to get the freaking thing to creak as I did so. I could hear Elina trying to say something but her voice was muffled.

"What? Are you actually going to make other noises other than crying now?" Klaus says.

The opening in the door was not big enough yet for me to slip in. I kept making the door ajar bit by bit until there was enough space for me to come in without making much noise. Klaus got closer to Elina and I felt the need to get the door open enough faster. He bent over and got even closer to her.

Elina's muffled voice suddenly was replaced by a loud gasp and then the sound of her breathing in deeply.

"I am not going to die!" She yelled.

The gap was finally big enough for me to step in. I did so slowly and finally got into the room.

"You sound so sure little girl." Klaus mocks. "What makes you think your friends are even thinking of coming here?"

Never in my life had I felt so slow. But I needed to move slowly I didn't want to make too much noise or do something stupid. The few seconds it might have taken me to move from the door to a few feet away from Klaus felt like minutes.

"Because I know they would do anything to save me, just like I would do for them." Says Elina.

Klaus starts laughing loudly and pulls Elina up on her feet from her hair. Elina screams and struggles to get on her feet. Already liking the idea of killing I ready my sword and point it towards him.

"Face it bitch, they already left you for dead!" Klaus spits out.

"That's…where y-you are wrong." Elina says while looking at me.

Without thinking it I activate a sword skill the almost pitch black room lights up with a shiny red and the whirring sound becomes louder.

"You?!" Klaus huffs.

"That's right you fucking bastard." I reply.

I let go and cut the distance between him and me. He lets go of Elina and rolls back avoiding my attack. He steps back and runs towards the door. I immediately kneel down and cut Elina free.

"Al, you really did come."

I grin a bit and hand over her buckler. She smiles and places it over her hand.

"You really have the balls to come directly at me?" Klaus says furiously.

He grabs his odd shaped sword and charges a sword skill as he stares me down.

"Why do you always ask these stupid questions?" I say as I get Elina on her feet. "I am here, no? So then the answer is yes, now isn't idiot?"

He makes a grunting noise and dashes to attack Elina, with little to no time to react I jump in front of her. His sword drives cleanly through me. I grunt at the sudden weird feeling and drop my sword. My HP is less than eighty points away from reaching zero.

"Al!" Elina screams.

His attack was critical and what little I had of health left slowly drained since the sword was still piercing me. I push Klaus away and quickly pull his sword off my chest. I throw it blindly and it lands a few steps away from him. Looking down I'm able to see the bright damaged effect still in my chest. I reach for my sword and hear the sound of the sword skill ready to go off.

"Now you've really done it." I say.

Klaus nervously tries to get to his sword I quick step towards him and attack him. My blow sends him flying across the room and he destroys a few barrels he crashes into. I see the glow on the edge of my eye. I raise my sword, the bright red light clouds my vision as I walk towards the destroyed barrels. I see his pathetic figure moving around trying to get up and I can't help but to smile. As I get closer he starts crawling back into the wall.

"No! No! We can talk about this wait!" He cries.

"Hah, the only sound here is going to be you crying as I cut your pretty little head off." I say.

I let go again and close in on him fast.

"Don't!" Screams Elina.

She jumps in from the side and with her buckler deflects my sword. The impact of my sword with her buckler makes a blue effect spark out. My sword then impacts the wall next to Klaus's face and shatters into pieces. The sword's slick gray color turn to red and sharp pieces of it go flying everywhere. I cover my eyes and shield my face a bit. Klaus kicks me away and runs for the door. I try to get up quickly and give him chase but as I try to get up I slip and fall on my knees.

Trying to get up again I feel something pulling me back. I turn to see Elina holding my foot with her face to the ground. I stop and sit on the spot.

"Elina…why?" I mutter.

She doesn't say anything but sits up as well. I find myself without breath as I see her face. Some of the pieces that shattered from my blade still glowing red are on her face. Her eyes start tearing up and I get close to her holding her chin gently.

"My f-face feels way too warm…" She mumbles.

I softly try to remove the sharp chunks of steel of her face. She twitches as I try to pick them out.

"It doesn't…it doesn't feel good." She says as she tries to hold back her tears.

As I pull the pieces off I can see the damage effect glow beneath each piece of them. Well I'll be damned if this game isn't fucking precise.

"Are your health points ok?" I ask.

She nods and moves her face a bit but I hold her steady as I keep removing the shattered blade.

"I didn't want you to kill anyone…I'm sorry…I-I even br-broke your sword." She says.

"Don't say something like that, it was just a sword. I can get a new one." I whisper. "But your face, that I can't get a replacement of." I say jokingly.

She laughs a little but stops quickly as I pull a large chunk out.

"I'm so sorry Eli…" I mutter as I pull out the last piece.

I let go of her chin and she lifts her hands to touch her face.

"Something still feels warm…near here" She says as she rubs near her neck.

I tilt her head a little to the right and see a big piece of the sword buried on the part between her shoulder and the beginning of her neck. It was way too big.

"Is there a piece there still? My health points are still going down really really slowly." She says.

"Yeah, er I'll try to pull this one out ok?" I say "Try not to move."

She nods and tilts her head a little more so I can get a view of the large chunk. I place my on it and start pulling it. The piece doesn't move and I end up pull on Elina more than I do on the piece of sword.

"It won't move…I don't get it." I exclaim. "Ok..uhm hold on a bit."

I get on my feet and place my left hand on her shoulder and my right hand grabbing the shatter piece.

"Ok, grab unto my leg ok?"

"What?" She replies.

"Just do it, this one is in deep apparently." I say.

She holds my leg close and I start pulling on the chunk. She complains a little and with one forceful pull I manage to take out the almost five centimeter long piece of her neck. I toss it away and help her on her feet.

"Al! Eli! Are you guys ok!?" Aeri shouts as she runs into the room.

She sees us and her face lightens up with a smile.

"Oh thank god you guys are ok." I saw Al's health go down quickly and I freaked out. Then that Klaus dude came out running." She explains.

"We are ok." Elina says softly as she smiles.

We all brighten up and Aeri tosses me a potion. I catch and quickly drink it down. My health points go up steadily and I pick up the grip of my broken sword. I put in my inventory and stretch a little.

"Is Daath ok?" Elina asks.

Aeri nods and opens a message.

"He says he managed to lose the guys when they were almost getting to Urbus." She says. "Although he says we should meet back at Tolbana."

"Makes sense, I guess it's only dangerous right now to be up here." I say.

Eli nods and I scratch my head before letting out a big sigh.

"It is a long walk." Aeri sighs.

I chuckle a bit and so does Elina.

"Then we should get going." Eli says.

We make our way out of the ruins and start heading to Urbus so we can take the Gate down to Starting City. Aeri gets a little head start on me and Elina. As she is now more than a few feet away from us.

"Thanks, Al." Says Elina quietly.

"No problem." I say with a smile.

She smiles back at me and turns her head to the road. We keep walking for a bit and Urbus becomes bigger as we approach it. Suddenly I feel Elina's hand prodding my side. She prods me again and opens her palm.

"Heh, you can talk you know that right?" I tease.

I open my hand and hold hers. It's been a month now, but I'm finally realizing life here really can't be that bad.

* * *

AND WE ARE BACK!

Crysina here!

I'm so sorry guys! But I promise we are back to regular schedule now.

Thanks for waiting I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Thank you for reading! See ya soon!


	10. Chapter 10 - Where We Stand

**Chapter 10.- Where We Stand**

**December – 17****th**** – 2022**

**Alshep**

"Would you please stop moving so much?"

"Oh shut it fatso, it's your fault that we are stuck here anyways."

"What is it with you and my appearance I'm seriously not that fat."

"Well Daath is skinnier than you, so that by default makes you the fat one of the group."

"Screw yo- God dammit stop moving!"

"No, You sto- ahhh!"

We make a loud thud as we reach the bottom of the crevasse. The game's system does not allow us to feel pain, but I can't help to grunt and complain as my back hits the ground and then Aeri falls right on my stomach. Aeri rolls off of me also complaining as if the fall really had hurt.

Ever since we fell into the opening I knew this wasn't going to end well. The fall at first was wide, we fell about five meters before it started to get narrow. To the point we got stuck between the walls. All the tossing and nudging around must've made what was left of the wall loose and then made us fall into some sort of cave.

"I'm almost down to half of my HP." Aeri mutters. "This is all your damn fault!"

"Yeah of course it is. You were totally watching where you were going and you totally did not pull along with you when you started falling." I mumble.

She hisses at me and turns her head as she stands up. I get on my feet as well and look around. A thick darkness surrounds me and Aeri. A long beam of light pierces through the crevasse all the way down making it the only source of light within what I can only assume it's a cave.

Aeri fumbles a bit around her pockets and takes out a lantern. She lights it up and holds it a little in-front of her making the darkness go away as the light burns through it.

"Well at the very least you have increased your usefulness." I tease.

"Har har, at the very least you've toned down your insults." She replies.

"Look at it more like a censor I still meant the insult."

She changes her expression to a blank one and starts walking around the area. I stay in the same spot where I stood up and look directly above me. I can see the sun shining and I catch an eagle flying by through the narrow space in the fissure.

"Hey, look. It looks like a path." Aeri says.

I turn around and see her pointing down a tunnel a few feet away from me.

"Is that safe?" I ponder.

"Well there's no other way out of his place."

"That doesn't answer my question at all." I reply.

"I wasn't trying to answer your question." She says with a smile.

"Fine fine but don't go whining if it isn't the right wa-"

I'm interrupted by the scream of a girl as I hear a thud behind me. I turn around quickly unsheathing my rapier and Aeri quickly moves next to me with her sword at hand.

"Oh dear, that was a horrible idea." Says the girl sitting on the floor.

Aeri and I both stand at ease a little but keep our weapons ready, just in case. She stands up and dusts off her skirt and shoulders. She breathes in deeply and looks directly at us. Her hair is almost golden, a pretty strong tone of blonde and is tied up in a fancy way as it hangs from behind her head. She wears a white skirt and a grayish top with a shoulder plate. It looks somewhat odd but it somehow fits. A rapier hangs from her side, but hers is unbelievably thin almost resembles a fencing sword.

"Excuse me." She says with a soft voice. "Did you two fall down here as well?"

"Well, that is pretty darn obvi-"

Aeri places her free hand over my mouth stopping from completing my sentence. She frowns at me but I know exactly what is trying to say. Shut the hell up.

"Yeah, we did." Aeri replies.

"I was not looking where I was headed and in a horrible twist of fate I stumbled into this horrendous pit." She responds. "Where are my manners, my name is Kayla. It is nice to make your acquaintance uhm…"

"Aeri, and this big guy here is Al." She says while patting my back.

"You are serious mess of mood swings you know that, right?" I mutter.

"Splendid." Kayla says. "Do you happen to know the way out of here?"

She says this and holds her hands close to her chest. Her mannerisms strike me as a little odd, somewhat princess like. Almost as if she was raised like one, which was kind of funny since I only expected to see this kind of behavior in a tv show or some work of fiction. It was entertaining for some reason.

"We were just about to head down that path." I say while pointing to the tunnel.

Kayla presses her index finger against her lips and seems to think for a bit.

"Why are you two pointing at me with your weapons?" She says. "Am I an unwanted presence?" She adds.

I just notice I am indeed pointing my rapier at her, Aeri seems to notice as well and sheathes her sword rather quickly. I do the same and clear my throat.

"Just a precaution." I say.

"You mustn't judge a book by its cover." She says.

"I did exactly the opposite." I whisper to myself

I nod slowly and scratch my head a little. Kayla approaches me and Aeri slowly, I notice Aeri reaching for the back of her head and see her open her hand as it gets closer to the grip of her sword. I guess she is just nervous.

Kayla is soon enough in-front of us and Aeri slowly relaxes her hand and lets it drop to her side.

"Your friend doesn't seem to trust me much." Kayla comments.

"Well, I don't either. After all we just introduced ourselves." I say.

"My my, you are rather harsh."

"That's just the way he is, stick around long enough and you might even get to know the uneducated animal he is." Aeri mocks.

"Oh goodness, do you speak like that often?" Kayla mumbles.

I chuckle a bit and turn my back on Aeri and Kayla.

"I like you." I say as I walk to the tunnel.

Just as I approach the tunnel I notice something that felt really off. There wasn't any background music at all. Complete and utter silence aside from my steps and the voices of Aeri and Kayla discussing something not far from me.

"Hey Aeri, mind if I borrow that lantern of yours?"

"Be my guest." She says as she tosses it my way.

I catch and smile to myself because I'm sure I looked pretty cool doing so. I rest my right arm just above the opening of the tunnel and bend over to peek in with the lantern on my left hand. The light didn't help me much, I could only see a few feet into the damn thing. My whole body was screaming it was a bad idea to even think of going in, but a quick look around reminded me that it was the only path available.

Kayla and Aeri catch up to me and they giggle as I turn to face them.

"You two besties all of the sudden or what?"

"None of your business Al." Aeri snaps.

"It's rude to keep someone out of the loop…just throwing that out there." I huff.

"Is this the tunnel you spoke of?" Kayla asks as she leans to see down the tunnel.

I nod and she straightens up. Something about her was just attracting, I don't know if it was the strong yellow tone of her hair or just her figure. I'll be damned, she was good looking. Maybe even prettier than Aeri. My mind is going off track.

"We gain nothing if we stand here like idiots." Aeri says as she slips in between me and Kayla.

She crouches and starts making her way inside the tunnel.

"Shit." She shouts.

"Lantern?" I say smugly

"Just give it to me." She demands.

She sticks her hand out of the tunnel and I put the lantern on her palm. She proceeds to go back inside and goes in a little farther. Kayla looks at me and chuckles a bit.

"She isn't the brightest tool in the shed." I joke.

Kayla laughs a bit and crouches as well to start making her way into the tunnel.

"It gets a little arrow farther ahead." Aeri shouts.

Her voice echoes as it comes out on my end.

"Good luck, Al." She says laughing.

I sigh and bend my knees to get a view of the tunnel. I can see a faint light in-front of Kayla. Aeri really worked her way in fast. I start making little steps little by little treading my hand on the left wall to keep my balance. Kayla suddenly stops and gets on her knees and hands. Giving me a rather lovely view of her bottom, I can't help but to smile. This smile is quickly erased as she kicks me hard in the face.

"What the hell was that for?!" I yell.

"I guess your partner was right." She mutters.

"Hey look, it isn't my fault you just bent over."

"You could be a gentleman and look the other way." She replies.

"Forget it, I'm sorry. Just keep moving alright? I'll mind my own business."

She "hmph"s me just like Aeri does and keeps crawling in. I'm a man of my word so I get on my knees and hands and look down to my hands as I place one in-front of the other to make my way through the narrow path.

"It widens a little over here." I hear Aeri say.

We keep crawling for a bit and I finally reach the part Aeri said. I get on my toes and press my hands on the wall as I keep moving.

"Do you mind if I ask a few questions about you two?" Kayla says.

"I don't see why not." Aeri says.

"Shoot." I reply.

"How long have you been together?" Kayla says as she moves around in-front of me.

"Wow wow, we are not together." Aeri says quickly.

"She means as in a group idiot, not a couple." I comment.

"Oh, ok. How long has it been? A few weeks, right?"

"Yeah, kind of hard to pin point though." I say.

"We are party members with another two." Aeri replies.

"A guy named Daath and another girl, Elina." I say.

Aeri starts laughing a little.

"Girl is a harsh way to refer to your girlfriend, don't you think?" She chuckles.

"Oh, you have a girlfriend Al?" Kayla curiously asks.

"She is not my girlfriend…we…we just enjoy each other's company."

"Call it whatever you want, you know it to be true." Aeri teases.

"Just shut up and keep moving." I grunt.

She and Kayla laugh a bit as they pick up the pace. I wouldn't exactly call the relationship me and Elina have as boyfriend and girlfriend. I mean, sure. We care about each other a lot and spend a ton of time together. The more I think about it the more I feel embarrassed and decide to drop the topic myself.

"Woohoo, an exit." Aeri shouts

"Finally." Kayla sighs.

It's not long before Kayla exits the tunnel with me behind her and we find ourselves on another large room with no light at all, but a little more scanning around reveals an exit. I stand up and stretch, a yawn slowly escapes me as well. I stare at the exit for a little and ponder in my thoughts

"This is definitely a trap." Kayla mutters.

"Yup." I agree quickly.

"Why would this be a trap, we can leave now. The exit is right there!" Aeri complains.

Kayla chuckles a bit and takes out her sword and swipes it down as she rests her free hand on her hip.

"Exactly dear, it is just right there. This is obviously a trap." She answers.

I look up and notice something moving, a sharp goose bump goes through my spine and I extend my hand to Aeri.

"Lantern please."

She quickly hands it over and I get ready to throw it upwards but stop myself.

"By any chance do you happen to have an extra one of these?" I ask Aeri.

She moves her head sideways.

"I have a lantern." Kayla quickly adds.

"Good." I say and throw the lantern upwards.

Another goose bump goes through me as the lantern lights its way up and reveals the biggest snake I had ever seen in my life. Its eyes shine red and hisses at us loudly.

"Let's have some fun then." Aeri says as she takes out her sword.

"You two are honestly and odd pair." Kayla says softly.

"Stick around, you'll have some fun." I say.

I take out my sword and the lantern crashes against the floor. To my surprise it doesn't go out but instead lights up different trails of something flammable on the ground. Fire rises from the ground separating me from Kayla and Aeri. I can feel the warmth and suddenly feel motivated as some background music kicks in. I hear Aeri laugh loudly and see the snake slither its way down the wall closest to Kayla's and Aeri's side.

I see Aeri jump high and attack the snake from where I'm standing. It slithers away quickly and head towards me at full speed. I ready my sword as it shines bright blue. Just as its a few feet away from I attack it while shouting out of the top of my lungs. I manage to connect and do some damage. But it quickly cowers away and turns around to head towards the girls again.

"It's going your way again!" I shout.

Through the fire I manage to see Kayla attacking the side of the massive reptile as it passes next to her. The snake shakes its tail and manages to hit Kayla pushing her close to the fire. She loses her balance and is about to fall right in the fire but I move quickly and push her away as I dive through the flames. I roll once I'm on the other side and stand up quickly.

My vest caught fire but I quickly swat it away and help Kayla on her feet.

"It's on the ceiling again!" Aeri yells.

I glance up and see it moving right over me and it then quickly descends the wall behind me. Aeri and Kayla both ready a sword skill. Aeri's sword shines yellow and Kayla's a weird pink-ish color.

"Al! Launch me up!"

"What?"

"Just do it!"

I bend one knee and hold my hands together as Aeri starts running towards me. She makes a small jump and places one foot on my hands. I lift her up and send her into the air as she holds her sword with both of her hands. She moves the tip of her sword downwards and begins her drop into the snakes back. I roll forwards just barely avoiding the snake's head and see Aeri drive her sword on the snake's body. She holds on tight and rides the snake while hanging on to her sword.

"She is fearless." Kayla comments.

"Haha, and a little crazy." I add.

The snake goes around the room as Aeri pulls and pushes her sword on its back making great amounts of damage.

"Hey…do the same with me, please." Kayla mumbles.

"You sure?" I come back.

She nods steadily and I nod back.

"Ok, but wait till it turns around."

She gets ready by making some distance between me and her and I look back trying to position myself for her to jump on the snake. Aeri keeps attacking the thing like a savage and I can hear her laugh from across the room. The snake jerks its body towards us and starts moving. I bend one knee again and make the little platform with my hands. I nod at Kayla and she starts running towards me. She jumps into my hands and I throw her up. She lands closer to the head and pushes her sword through the reptile.

I find myself surprised as I haven't dealt much damage to the beast like my companions have. I start running alongside its body and jump on it sword first. My sword gets stuck right on the last section of the snake's tail and it pulls on me violently as I try to hang on. I begin to lose my grip and it suddenly shakes me off its body with my sword still impaled on the tail.

"Shit." I grunt as I roll near one of the walls of fire.

The snake turns around quickly and sees me. I can see it on its eyes. It's coming for me. It hisses violently and moves quickly to me. Just as it's about to reach me Kayla reaches the head and stabs it hard. This makes the snake close its eyes and shake in pain. With the tip of its mouth it knocks me to the ground and depletes a bit of my health. With its eyes closed it crashes against the wall and stops moving.

"Pummel it! Hit it with everything!" I shout.

Not a second passes and I hear the damage effects and Kayla's and Aeri's swords whirr. I get up and run to the snake's tail. I find my sword exactly where I left it and run over the tail. Just as I'm passing by I grab my sword's grip and start dragging it with me without letting it go out of the snake. I start going faster and my sword just glides over the snake's skin. We are close to killing it, its HP barely has ten percent left. Like cutting butter my sword finally reaches to where Kayla is stabbing the beast. I pull it out and Kayla's sword flashes. She drives her sword in and the snake's body turns into light.

We drop a couple of feet and I land on my feet, so does Aeri but Kayla stumbles a bit. I sheathe my sword along with everyone. The fire slowly disappears and the result screens pop up.

"Well that was a crappy enemy." Aeri says.

"Yeah, it barely attacked us." I say.

Kayla stands up and the thin rapier on her hand turns into a green two handed sword. The weight makes her body move forwards and she struggles to lift it up again.

"You got that cause of the last hit?" I ask.

"I would assume so, it is not my kind of weapon though." She replies

"If you don't want it, can I keep it?" I request.

She nods and hands the weapon over to me and accepts the trade. I equip it instead of my rapier and lift it with on hand up in the air. Now this feels nice, while it's incredibly heavy it feels much better than that flimsy rapier. Thankfully its sheath is still set on my hip so I can still maintain my usual sheathing and unsheathing style. A little picky to be honest but I am pleased nonetheless.

"Well time to get out of here." Aeri says as she slaps the back of my head.

"What was that for?!" I scream. "Geez, I hope you two don't become fond of hitting me."

Kayla quickly hides her face and blushes a bit. I think she is reminiscing of the thing that went on inside the tunnel.

"I'm sorry for kicking you, but I had to do it. I know you were staring." She says.

"For god's sake Al you have a girlfriend and you are staring at other women's butts. SHAME ON YOU!" Aeri says.

"She is not my girlfriend!"

Both of the girls start laughing at me and I just walk towards the exit trying to get away from them. The sun shines brightly over the second floor of Aincrad. Just a few days ago the clearing party managed to beat the floor boss. That's an amazing record time to be honest, compared to the time it took us to beat the first one that is. Very few people stayed in Urbus, all the others ventured forth to the third floor. I've heard so far it's like a big forest, but I rather see it myself.

I take a small step forward and the floor collapses under my foot. The exit seems to be located just on the side of the mountain we were trying to go up to before falling in the crevasse. Quickly regaining my balance I manage to stay where I'm standing. Looking down makes it look like a long drop, but the fall isn't vertical. It's more like a big and long slope. I definitely wouldn't want to go rolling down this thing.

"Well that's odd, you can see Urbus from here." Aeri says as she stands next to me.

"Are you two staying in Urbus right now?" Kayla asks.

"As of now, yes. But we'll be moving to the next floor tomorrow." I add.

She pressed her finger against her lip again. Aeri stretched and yawned loudly as she tested the edge of the exit as well. Some dirt loosened up and fell too so she stood back a little.

"Can I request something?" Kayla mumbles.

I peek down again and scanned around a little for a way down of the mountain.

"Well…go ahead." I reply.

"Would you be so kind as to let me join your group?"

Aeri stares quickly at me with a face I know means no. I know that both she and Daath agree to disagree in this topic. They both say it would be a burden to have more people along, that our group just like it is right now its ok. But while they are right when saying it could burden us, I don't see why a girl that knows her way around with a sword could harm us.

"We'll have to discuss that with everyone else, I don't see why you can't join." I say.

Aeri slowly walks behind me and takes out her sword. She stabs the ground behind me and an unnerving sensation brews under my feet. The ground breaks under me and I start sliding down the mountain. I hit more than a few rocks on my way down and finally land on my face when reaching the bottom. Soon enough Aeri comes down gracefully sliding on her feet and kicks me over.

"Are you stupid?! We don't need another person!" She yells at me.

"Aren't ya the hypocritical bitch?" I yell back. "We took you in remember?!"

She kicks me again and I stand up. I grab her hand tightly as she is about to slap me.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?"

"You are just going to complicate things!" She replies.

I hold her other hand as it flies to my face and stop it too.

"If anything it'll make things easier, what are you talking about?"

"You'll just make things harder on Daa-" She stops herself.

"Huh?" I mutter.

She stops struggling and returns her hands to her side. She looks down and starts walking away in the general direction of Urbus.

"Did I upset you?" Says Kayla as she comes down sliding from behind me.

"No, she is just weird…" I sigh. "Anyway, are you coming along?"

She nods and I start walking with her.

"Sorry to pry on this, but I'm rather curious. Do you really have a girlfriend?"

"Well…I don't know to be honest. I like what I have with her right now, but I don't know if I want anything more…"

"Hmm, I see." She mutters.

"Was that all?"

"Yeah, it is just that your partner mentioned quite a bit. So naturally, I became curious." She says.

The walk takes a while but we reach Urbus's main road before sundown. The whole way here I wasn't able to spot Aeri, she must've hauled here quickly. The inn we are staying at isn't far from the main plaza. These streets use to be crowded just a few weeks ago, now they lie almost empty. It was just like they did when this floor was first opened. And all the people came in to celebrate that is. It felt odd but good at the same time. We were moving on, this game wasn't unbeatable. It would take time yes but it wasn't impossible. There was a way out of this death game and we were going to fight our way through it.

I'm about to open the door to then inn when Kayla stops me.

"Are you sure it's ok? I don't want to be a nuisance." She says.

"It'll be fine, you are good with your sword, if anything we need more people willing to engage in combat." I assure her.

I open the door slowly and see Aeri and Daath staring at me from a table close to the door. I walk over slowly and sit down. Kayla treads behind me slowly and sits beside me.

"You know where I stand in this Al." Daath says.

"What harm could one person do to us?"

"It's not about the harm, it's about the responsibility." He grunts. "I know you don't exactly care too much, but the simple fact of having to watch another back. It's mind breaking, man."

"Ok, the fact that I'm an ass most of the time doesn't mean I don't care. I care about you, I care about Elina, and as hard as this might be to believe I care about Aeri. We are a team, we are in this together." I answer.

Aeri looks at me and stares away quickly. Daath breathes in slowly and then exhales.

"Fine, I'm not exactly fond to the idea but…dammit fine." He huffs. "Ok, so what can you tell me about yourself?" He asks Kayla.

She flusters all of the sudden and struggles to find words. I pat her back and tell her to calm down.

"My name is Kayla, I've been solo-ing since day one. To be honest it has been rather lonely and excruciatingly hard. I use light swords and consider myself very agile, although compared to your partner Aeri I would think I'm slow." She says. "It would really be an honor if you took me in. I'll try to help in anything I can and I'm able."

Daath smiles a bit and chuckles.

"I see you are a little nervous. Calm down, ok?" He comments. "I have my reasons for not being too eager with you joining, but I think I'll have to deal with it. We are partners now, I guess."

Kayla smiles and giggles a bit. I smile as well and lean back a little. Our group has a one plus again. Daath words suddenly make sense in my head, but the only thought that comes to mind is that perhaps he doesn't want to get too attached to more people. After all…death is looming in every corner and the death of one of us wouldn't only lower morale but it could even break some of us down. I look at him and he is giving me the look he used to give me whenever I understood something he was teaching me. I guess he can read minds as well

I stand up from the table and start heading to the stairs of the inn.

"She is in her room, she said she was very tired." Daath says.

I freeze and can already hear Aeri giggling a bit.

"Alright, thanks." I say.

I make my way up and turn into the long hallway. I bring up my inventory to take my armor off and switch to some cotton pants and a gray shirt. It feels smooth and nice. Elina's door is just next to mine so it's easy for me to locate it. I knock on it a couple of times with no response. I stand in the hallway awkwardly waiting but nothing happens.

I try the knob and it slowly turns, a little surprised I creek the door in and see Elina curled up in her bed. As I'm closing the door to head to my room I hear her voice.

"Is that you?" She mumbles half asleep.

"Sorry sorry, you go back to sleep."

"No…wait..come in." She says.

I go into the room and close the door behind me.

"Are you ok?" She asks.

I smile and nod. She smiles as well and sits up in bed.

"We have a new partner, see?" I say as I point upwards.

She looks up at her HUD and her expression appears bothered.

"Who is he?"

"She." I correct.

"Oh, I though Daath didn't want more people." She says.

"I kind of twisted his hand." I say while chuckling. "You didn't have any nightmares, right?"

She moves her head to side to side as I sit on the edge of the bed.

"Well that's good." I say while smiling.

* * *

**Aeri**

**Later that night**

"Are you really ok with the new girl?" I mumble while bending over the table.

Our leader sits across from me in the table as he finishes his drink.

"Aeri, you more than anyone knows exactly why I'm against it."

"Yeah…because you don't want to be responsible for more people…but…maybe if you didn't take the role of boss that often may-"

Daath slams the table before I'm able to finish.

"What then, huh? Let Eli take the role? Al?" he raises his voice. "As cocky as this may sound, they aren't fit for the responsibilities. Al is too much of an impulsive animal and Eli is a frightened little girl."

"But what about me…" I mutter.

"You…you…shit. I'm sorry…" He says.

I look away and feel very sad for some reason.

"I just want to help you…the burden is not yours alone to carry." I say softly before standing up from my seat.

I start walking away from the table. Tears for some dumb reason start filling my eyes. I brush them away from my face. Since when am I so sentimental…?

"Aeri wait." He says while grabbing my shoulder from behind.

"You are right…but I've been thinking this way because no one ever offered help. I thought myself to be the only one able to keep us safe." He says. "But I am not…It is something we gotta work on together, it is something I'll need help with."

"What are you trying to say?" I answer trying to keep my voice from breaking.

"Help me." He whispers.

I can feel myself smiling and walk away from him a bit as I head to the stairs.

"Is that a yes?" he asks from afar.

I turn and nod at him with a smile.

"It's an effort we'll have to make together. As a team, no?" I say.

He smiles at me gently.

"As a team."

* * *

Crysina here!

Another main character?! Maybe, i'll see what I do with our new well mannered individual.  
FUN FACT: In the first draft of this chapter Kayla was going to be a big burly man. It's funny how things change.

I'm happy to see I have some continued support even after my odd week away.  
This makes me really really happy, thank you guys!

I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Thank you for reading! See ya soon!


	11. Chapter 11 - Reminiscing

**Chapter 11.- Reminiscing**

**Akari**

**November – 6****th**** – 2022**

Two years, five months, and twelve days since -that- happened. Since then I've been finding it…hard to wake up. Sometimes I don't even want to wake up…

"Akari! Wake up, I got a surprise for you!" Says my sister from outside my room.

I cover my face up with the blankets in my bed and turn on my side slowly. Please go away dear sister, I beg you. She keeps on knocking and repeating my name. Wake up, wake up, surprise, surprise.

"I know you are awake, hehe. Can I come in? Pretty please?!"

I turn on my back and slowly get the blanket off from my face, the clock on my night-stand says it is still very early. Nine A.M. early to be exact. My sister has never been good when it comes to allowing people to sleep peacefully. I rub my eyes slowly and blink consciously a few times before sitting up.

"C-come in." I say in mid-yawn.

She pushes the door in with her back, she is carrying a small box. The surprise perhaps?

"Rise and shine! I have a surprise!" She says as she sits on my bed.

"Is today something special?" I ask.

"Not at all, I just so happen to buy something I think you'll really like."

I really admire my sister, even after all that has happened she still tries to constantly make me happy, or at the very least to make me feel a little better with myself. I thank her for everything she has done, but I sometimes think she shouldn't even bother. It is sad, yes. But I really think I'm not even worth the effort.

I have to constantly be a hypocrite when talking to her. I have to smile at her compliments, and say thank you for things she gives me that I didn't even ask for. She is such a good person and I'm just inconsiderate I guess.

"What did you buy, sis?"

She grins at me and turns to fiddle inside the box. She quickly turns around with a metallic helmet in her hands.

"TA-DAH!" She shouts.

"Shh, you are going to wake up mother." I whisper.

"Sorry…haha." She replies.

In her hands she holds what looks like a big helmet, it has the letters NVG in the forehead area.

"What is this?" I say while taking the thing away from her.

"See, I knew you would be interested."

It feels heavy and cold, taking a closer look just underneath the letters NVG I see something written. NERVEGEAR. It has some tiny LED lights on the side close to the letters. POW, WAN, BLK.

"Is this thing like a new gadget for something?"

My sister stands up and twirls around on her foot.

"Close, but no. It's more like a controller thing."

"What do you mean by controller?"

She bends over a little and takes something else out of the box. A small box, almost the size of a dvd casing.

"It's the controller for…drum roll please!" She says and taps rapidly on her stomach. "This game!"

I place my finger over my lips and shrug a bit as she raised her voice. She apologizes and also puts her finger over her mouth. The box she is holding out reads SAO and under those letters Sword Art Online.

"How do I control a game with a helmet?"

"Haha, I was expecting you to ask such question." She says with a weird accent.

"You see my dear little sister, you control this game with your brain. Full immersion virtual reality!" She yells.

"Sis, please, your voice." I say softly.

She shrugs and covers her mouth quickly. She can be very silly at times. Full immersion virtual reality, that kind of rings a bell. I guess I must have seen it somewhere when going around the internet

"This game will kind of literally let you play with your brain on another body, does that make sense? Haha." She says.

"So…I would be able to do anything?" I ask.

"From what I have looked up about the game, yes. Pretty much everything."

I suddenly become interested. I place the helmet beside me and take away the casing from her hands. It has some info on the back and it says it requires a NerveGear system to work. I find odd that the word is written differently on the box than the helmet itself.

"I already installed the game for you. You just have to calibrate the helmet and you should be able to play it right away." She tells me with a smile on her face.

I smile back a little but do my best to erase said smile from my face. She just did something nice for me. Yet…deep inside me I just feel like I'm wasting her time. Or maybe the reason why I stopped smiling was because I sensed some pity in her actions. My emotions have been a serious mess lately, I really don't know what to think of myself or others lately.

"I have to go to school now though." She says as she leans in to kiss my forehead. "Be good, ok?"

I nods slowly and rub my forehead. She leaves my room silently and I sit there on my bed staring at my new playthings. I giggle to myself a little and pull the box a little closer to me. The only thing remaining inside is a cable. I take it out and inspect it thoroughly. One of the ends is weird, a really weird tip. I grab the helmet from my side and turn it around as I see the hole were the weird in could perfectly fit in. The other end of the cable is more recognizable, it looked like any other thing I would plug into a socket. I suppose it's for charging the helmet then.

"Akari, what are you doing?" Says a voice by the door.

I know who is standing by the door, it's my mother. I don't look but instead focus my attention on the NerveGear I'm holding in my hands.

"Are you going to spend all of today in bed, again?" She says with a stern tone.

I don't answer at all. I reach over for the game's box and pretend to read it.

"This is not what your father would've liked of you." She says.

"How do you even know what he would've liked…" I respond.

"What was that?" She says raising her voice.

"You heard me…" I reply.

I hear her take a few steps and a sudden stinging pain spreads over my right cheek. I hold my hand up to my cheek and cover it as I look away.

"You got some nerve, it's like you haven't learned a thing."

"Get out of my room." I mumble.

"What?" She says.

"Get out of my room!" I scream.

Silence fills my room and it is soon broken by the steps my mother takes to get out, she closes the door. I'm alone again. I rub my cheek gently and feel tears flowing out of my eyes. My face hurts a lot. I sob a little and lay face down in my bed for a bit. I find myself exhausted and nap for a little.

My cellphone is ringing loudly. I open my eyes slowly and see it vibrating and ringing in my night-stand. I stretch for it but can't seem to reach it. I push myself up a little and pull myself closer to the edge of the bed. I reach for my phone.

"Hello?! Akari?!"

It's my sister.

"I forgot to tell you, you can't play the game before one P.M. Well you should be able to play it now though since it is one P.M. right now, haha."

"Why is that?" I ask.

"I'm not sure I just read it online." She says while laughing. "Oh, and one last thing. Your log in and password are the same as in your computer. Have fun playing, I'll see you once I get home."

I press the red button on my phone and place it back on the nightstand. The NerveGear and its cable are still in my bed not too far from me. I sit up and scoot over a little to grab the helmet, stretching my arm a bit more I grab the cable and connect it to the helmet. Reaching the socket was a little trickier, but I manage to do so without needing to get up.

I slowly place the helmet over my head and click the little strap under my jaw. It feels very heavy. My phone rings briefly and vibrates again. I got a text message from my sister.

"I'm so sorry, I forgot another thing.  
The helmet activates with a voice  
command, put the thing on and say  
–Link Start-."

Well that was convenient. I make sure the helmet is secured on my head and speak the magic words.

"Link Start."

My sight goes dark suddenly and then a lot of colors appear before my eyes.

-THE NERVEGEAR SYSTEM WILL NOW BEGIN CALIBRATION-

After reading those words, my sight went dark again and I found myself staring at the ceiling of my room. I guess I should've done his while lying down from the start.

-PLEASE STAND UP AND TAP OVER YOUR SHOULDERS AND CHEST AREA-

A weird feeling goes through my stomach and I look over to my side. The chair is just a few steps away from my bed…but I can't really stand up. I ignore the instructions and just tap my shoulders and chest while sitting up in my bed.

-VERIFIED-

-PROCEED TO TAP THE AREA AROUND YOUR HIPS AND LEGS-

The instructions are making me uncomfortable, but if I want to see what this SAO is all about I'll have to hope the helmet recognizes my legs properly without the need of me having to stand up. I tap all over my hips and then tap over my legs slowly. The message disappears and nothing pops up for a few seconds.

-VERIFIED-

-PLEASE LAY DOWN ON A COMFORTABLE SURFACE-

I lay on my back slowly and other message pops up.

-INITIALIZING-

The bright colors flood my eyes again and suddenly I'm prompted with a log-in screen. Like my sister said I put in my user name and password and another prompt appears.

-CREATE NEW-

I select the option and another thing pops up.

-PLEASE NAME YOUR CHARACTER-

I ponder about it for a few seconds and finally decide to go with my kind of butterfly. Maybe a little too cliché or girly even for me but I really love how this one looks.

-ELINA-  
-IS THIS NAME OK?-

* * *

Crysina here!

This is a very short chapter compared to what I usually write, But it felt fitting and I also though a little backstory was in order.

I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Thank you for reading! See ya soon!


	12. Chapter 12 - Unrequited

**Chapter 12.- Unrequited**

**December - 21****st**** – 2022**

**Daath**

**Third Floor of Aincrad**

It's been a weird week. This does not mean that something bad happened. It's just been odd feeling that's all. With a new addition to our -team- and the clearing of the second floor it has all just been feeling rushed for some reason. Perhaps I'm the only one feeling this way.

In a way I guess I'm lucky, I'm surrounded by good looking women so I guess I can't complain. Although I think I can complain about Al though. I could have certainly used another man for this weird journey.

"Tell us already Elina, what's the deal with you and Al?" Aeri pries.

Elina light's up red and looks immediately at the floor like usual.

"W-w-what do you mean?" She asks nervously.

Kayla giggles a bit and walks in-front of me, she's been moving a lot within the little formation we got going on. My best guess is that she likes forests a lot. She's been wandering up and down all over the place since we got to the big trees. And that's saying a lot, the big trees where gigantic ones, ever since you enter this floor the smallest tree you will see has more than three meters in diameter. Her movements reminded me of a chipmunk for some reason.

"You know what I mean." Aeri says. "Are you two going out or something? Are you boyfriend and girlfriend?"

Aeri walks in-front of Elina and turns around as she walks backwards to see her as we keep going through the thick of the forest. I had never seen Elina blush this hard ever. If it were me I would probably stop asking questions since her face alone is a dead giveaway. But then again, Aeri isn't the one to notice details. BUT then again, I'm not the one to stop when there's a chance to play around with someone.

"What do you two do when you go into his room at night?" I say.

I can almost see her hair stand for a brief second and her face is now as red as a tomato. Aeri starts laughing loudly and turns around to grab her stomach. I notice Kayla turning around to giggle some more at the poor little girl's expression.

"N-no! No! It's not….like that I…I swear." She says with a cute voice.

I chuckle a bit and feel bad for a second, perhaps I pushed it a bit too far? Nah, there is still plenty of topics to poke at, just for fun.

"Ohoho. Are you two getting all luvvy-duvvy at night?" Aeri says while cover her mouth.

She just went there. I hold back all urge to laugh as I see Elina's even funnier expression.

"Ease it down." Says Kayla "It's none of our business, now is it?"

She now moves next to Elina and pats her head gently. Elina seems to calm down a little and doesn't seem as flustered now.

"Geez, ok MOM!" Huffs Aeri.

"I am not your mother." Kayla replies.

"It's a joke! I already told you that like three times!" Aeri shouts.

"And I still do not get what's the point of said joke."

I turn to the dirt road and smile to myself as both girls continue to fight over a misinterpretation of words. I turn around for a second and see Elina standing between Aeri and Kayla with a smile on her face. I really enjoy watching this kind of conversations, I find it relaxing and entertaining. If anyone in the group is good at something that I'm not that would be being able to relax.

The light coming in from the top of the trees gives a nice, relaxed ambiance to this part of the forests. Perhaps I could be able to relax a little bit today, just for today. The birds chirp in sync and the wind flows slowly through the trunks and leaves. Yes, perhaps just for today I can relax. I close my eyes for a second and walk slowly as I breathe in deeply. The sound of unsheathing blades takes me out of my trance and I open my eyes. I'm standing less than three feet away from a weird looking humanoid monster with shining red eyes. It looks like a mass of roots and leaves all crumbled together to make it look like a swamp monster. It was disturbing.

"Are you going to take out your sword?" Aeri asks.

I sigh loudly and reach for the back of my head. As soon as I feel the grip in my palm I close it and unsheathe my blade with a swift move. Was it so hard to ask? Just one fetch quest without having to fight? What am I thinking…this game is about killing stuff. Most of the time anyways.

"Fine, let's do this." I say.

The enemy shouts at us with a high-pitched piercing voice and starts running towards us. I see Kayla and Elina run past me as they both activate sword skills almost simultaneously. Talking about coordination.

Elina crosses through, allowing her to get the first strike on the enemy. She stabs it in the chest and let's go of her sword as she twirls around to smack its face with her buckler. Impressed I grin a bit and ready a sword skill of my own as she retrieves her blade from the foe's chest.

Seconds after that Kayla swoops by and attacks through the enemy as she draws a straight bright line of yellow. This makes the enemy stagger, thus giving me a chance to move in. The sword in my hand is already vibrating as if it were a beast waiting to be released upon it's pray. I dash in quickly and drive my sword cleanly through the humanoid. It slowly glides in until the skin of the enemy is practically touching the grip of my sword. I twist the sword around furiously completing my technique and back away to allow Aeri to jump in.

When we are in a group our fights usually don't last long, we are all almost in the same levels. Except for Elina who always seems to be at least two levels below us. This makes for a great advantage in battle. We all have kind of the same damage output, so pretty much everything in our way we tear down with ease. We do have our rough days though and I had a feeling this was going to be one of those days.

I see Aeri dropping down from the sky to impale the objective. Just as she is about to make contact with her sword the weird set of plants moves backwards almost like a fluid and stands in-front of Aeri as she drops down.

"Huh?" Aeri says.

The enemy suddenly swings its whole body around and smacks Aeri with its side. This makes her fall on her butt and it takes a significant part of her health.

"They did not do that in the beta…" I mutter.

"Not the best time to so…" Aeri mumbles as she stands up.

Kayla jumps not far from me and leaps from the side of a tree as her sword glows. She is a very acrobatic fighter. She twists in the air as she drops down to impale the enemy right on the head.

"Bull's-eye." She says with a giggle.

The monster staggers a little with Kayla's rapier still piercing through it. And then things take a turn to the even more unexpected. Its body starts taking over Kayla's arm as if consuming her. Kayla tries to let go of her blade but it's too late. The vines and overall structure of the damned thing start devouring her. Aeri and Elina quickly run towards it to start attacking, but I find myself frozen on the spot. The green, gooey substance starts reaching her face when I realize I need to move.

"Hey! Daath! Do something!" I hear Aeri cry out.

I place my right foot in front of my left and start running towards Kayla. The enemy is now longer fighting back, it is only focused on taking over Kayla's body. I didn't notice before but her health is approaching the red zone.

"What do I do?!" Kayla says.

"Let me think…err…this things have a core, kind of like a rock." I comment. "Can you still move your hand around in there?"

"And you held that back until now?!" She grunts.

"Just answer the question." I insist.

She slowly nods and the green substance starts to go over her mouth leaving her muffled. I can only hear her scream through the vines and leaves that are desperately trying to take over her.

"Look for something solid inside and crush it with your hand!" I yell.

I see the last of her head be consumed just as I say this. I stand back and fall on my back, I tripped with something.

"No! No!" Aeri screams as she drops her sword and starts trying to claw Kayla out of the mass of green stuff.

Elina drops to her knees and cover her ears. A burst of light blinds me for a second. As I prepare for the worst I open my eyes slowly and se Kayla breathing heavily on the ground. She screams loudly into the air and drops to her back as she continues to breathe heavily.

"You did it! You really did it!" Elina says cheerfully.

Aeri picks up her sword and sheathes it slowly.

"You had me worry for a second there." She says with a smile.

"You." Kayla says from the ground.

As I stand up I notice she is pointing at me with her finger.

"If we encounter another foe, you shall give what you know about it." She grunts. "Preferably before any of us dies, please."

"Uhm…yeah, sorry. I have a slow reaction time, I apologize." I answer

"Very very…slow." She says and breathes in deeply. "I seriously felt like I was suffocating in there."

Elina chuckles a bit and helps Kayla up on her feet.

"We should be close by now, we just need that ring they asked for and head back to town." I say.

The three girls nod at me and I start walking again. Kayla drinks a potion down and keeps breathing in and out deeply. It's only natural, she must have been very scared. Hell, I know I was…

I seriously do not know what would happen if someone of the group died, I feel like I wouldn't be able to take it. It's too much responsibility and it would definitely be blamed on someone. Perhaps I'm just overthinking things…again…

"Am I still the only one that finds it really odd that Al didn't come along with us?" Kayla comments.

"Yes." I say along with Aeri and Elina.

"Oh my, you can't be serious." She replies.

"Oh but we are. The guy is just like that sometimes. That or he wanted to do something he didn't want us knowing about." I say.

"Speaking of which." Aeri says. "Do you think maybe he is cheating on our poor little Elina?"

Elina gasps.

"He wouldn't do th-that!" She says

"AHA! I knew it! You two ARE together!" Aeri replies.

"I…I never said that." Elina says nervously.

Her face becomes flushed again and she covers it with her hands.

"Aeri, please give Elina a break." Says Kayla. "You two have been teasing her ever since we left the town."

Elina goes behind Kayla as if she was using her as a shield for the teasing. I found the action adorable and smiled a bit. Aeri pouted and placed her right hand on her hip. She took a few steps in-front of me in an attempt to separate herself a little from the group. It reminded me of what my sister did whenever she got a little upset at me. She would give the cold shoulder and pretend to ignore me for a bit.

The little things Aeri does sometime make me wonder who really is the youngest in our group. While Elina is both physically and mentally the youngest, the little fits Aeri throws on her own normally resemble a ten year old. Kayla however is a whole different deal when compared to both Elina and Aeri. She is elegant and intelligent, not to say Aeri or Elina are dumb or anything. But while Aeri acts on impulse and Elina on orders, Kayla is able to asses and understands our standing before attacking or taking any action when under pressure.

I might be rambling now, but there's really not much else to focus on in this forest. Kayla is the tallest of all the girls, then Aeri and obviously Elina comes last. If I were to compare the heights of everyone in the group it would definitely start with Al being the tallest. Then after him there's me, then Kayla, after her comes Aeri and finally Elina.

It took me a bit to realize, I was already walking quite some feet away from Kayla and Elina who were talking in the back. Somehow I found myself isolated next to Aeri even if the others weren't far behind.

"What are you thinking about?" She says softly.

"Huh? Uhm…nothing really. Just rambling in my own head." I answer.

She turns her head a little and smiles at me with her eyes closed. Odd.

"You know I've been thinking." She says.

"About what?"

"You know, stuff." She says and giggles.

"Hmm.." I huff.

"You are somewhat dense sometimes, you know?" She comments.

"What in the world is that even supposed to mean?" I say.

She skips along further away from and suddenly Elina tags behind her. I hear the leave rustle under my feet as I walk and Kayla approaches me from behind.

"My my, you are really dense." She says.

"What does that mean?!" I ask frustrated.

Kayla giggles at me while covering her mouth and then smiles. I just scratch my head and hang it a little as I try to think about what they mean by –dense-.

"I will make a deal with you." She says. "Let us play a game, if you lose I will tell you what she means once we get to town."

"What's the point and I can just not do a thing and I'll get my answer. Unless there's a-"

"Catch." She finishes my sentence.

I smile a little, I find her choice of words very interesting. I'm always up for a challenge.

"If I get the ring before you do. You will act as my servant for one full day of my choosing." She says with a diabolical grin.

I think about it for a second. I argue with myself in my head as I ponder on what the best option would be. But sadly, my ego takes over.

"Deal." I say while shaking her hand.

* * *

"Well that is and spectacular way to lose a game." Says Kayla.

She stands above me with a big smile and a shiny silver ring between her thumb and index finger.

"I don't consider tripping over something as something spectacular." I mutter with my face against the ground.

The blonde laughs loudly and pushes the ring into her pockets. With my self-esteem as low as my face is to the ground I stand up and dust off my pants.

"So we were getting pummeled while you two played a game?" Aeri says angrily.

Elina appears behind her sheathing her own sword and an almost as pouty face. I sheathe my sword as well and check my inventory for some potions.

"These enemies were hardly a challenge don't get mad." I say.

Finding the potions I toss them to Elina and Aeri since their health dropped a bit.

"There, does that make us even?" I ask.

"Hmph." She snarls while drinking.

I smile and turn my back on Eli and Aeri to look at Kayla who is greening from eye to eye with a wicked expression. I hear that little voice in my head. "You really did screw up, haha." Even I recognize how stupid I must've looked tripping over nothing.

"Fine, let's get this over with Madam." I murmur.

"Oh, haha. Not just yet, dear. I still have to pick a day." She says.

"What?"

"I said a day of my choosing, or did you forget?"

"Must've slipped my mind…"

"Did you two bet something?" Elina asks.

"Yes, sort of…" I mutter.

"Is it bad that you lost?" She questions.

"Not at all but I would've preferred I won." I say as I pat her head a little.

"Well, back to town shall we?" Kayla says.

We all nod at her and start retracing the way we came from. It took quite some time, the forest is absurdly big. It doesn't help that the town itself is hidden in the middle of the forest. But we get there and for the first time in a long while we manage to do so before sundown.

Kreika, that's the town's name. It is one not many players will encounter at first it is really well hidden. It also the farthest apart from these floor's main entrance. We chose to stay here for the time being, the plan being to lay low. We do not want to worry another encounter with the soon to be guild The White Snakes.

"It is nice to see you arrived with unscathed." Says the quest npc.

"I would not exactly say unscathed." Kayla grunts.

"You say it as if you expected an answer from the npc." Says Aeri.

"I am just, how would you say it…" Kayla stops for a second. "Throwing it out there."

Elina giggles a bit and I chuckle a bit myself. Aeri puts both of her hands on her hips and breathes in deeply.

"Laugh all you want. It is not my fault I wasn't educated like a little princess."

"Yes, dear. It is in fact not your fault. Bummer." Kayla says.

Aeri flashes her teeth at her and frowns at the joke.

"Ladies, calm down. Kayla hand over the ring so we can go to the inn." I interrupt.

"I will do as commanded." She says mocking me.

She hands over the ring and the NPC gives us the usual speech of how grateful he is for us to have completed such a hard request. Bla. Blah…blah. Result screens pop up in-front of us splitting the EXP and Col. evenly.

"Level twelve it is then." Aeri says.

"Same here." I say.

"How come we always level up at the same time?" Aeri asks.

"Perhaps it is destiny, perhaps you are a match made in heaven." Kayla says before bursting out in giggles with Elina.

They walk off into town and I try to understand, AGAIN, what she could mean. I look at Aeri and notice she is blushing. No…way.

I cough loudly in an attempt to break the awkward silence.

"Er..we should get back to the in." I say.

"Oh..oh right right." Aeri says nervously.

I think I might be overthinking things again. It can be, not her. It's not like her at all.

I open the door to the inn and see Kayla, Elina and Al sitting on a table near the hallway leading to the rooms. Elina is hugging Al cheerfully and he just sits there with a smile on his face. Kayla finishes ordering something as I sit down next to her and across from Al and Elina.

"You noticed already, am I right?" Kayla comments with her eerie smile.

I nod and breathe in and out, almost sighing.

"Oh my, this might be fun." She says.

"Tsk…shut up." I mutter.

"Huh? What happened?" Al asks.

"You might not find out." Kayla says and giggles.

"Well that answer cleared all my doubt." Al says sarcastically.

Elina whisper something on Al's ear and starts laughing after doing so.

"Oh, I get it." Al says as he smiles.

The feeling I have right now is familiar to what I can only assume someone would feel when every single person in the room is plotting against him. Aeri comes over with a mug on her hands and sits down next to me.

Everyone else exchanges looks and suddenly Al, Eli, and Kayla move three tables to the right. Well…shit.

"Uh…Aeri I…"

"I'm sorry…this must be embarrassing for you." She mutters.

"Not at all, it's just that I didn't see it coming, like at all." I say. "I really don't know what to say."

I see her fiddle her finger on her mug a little and she bends over the table a bit.

"Just say what you feel." She says in a really soft voice.

Fuck.

"Aeri…you see. Uhm…"

I stumble with my words and can't find the right thing to say. I somehow feared this might happen. Not that she would fall in love with me, that is far too self-centered. Just the scenario itself, an unrequited love can tear apart a lot of things. And one of those things might as well be this team we managed to assemble.

"I'm not exactly looking for this…right now…" I say.

She stops her fingers and moves her mug to the side. I've definitely done it this time…

"I understand don't worry." She says with a painful smile.

She drinks her mug empty and stands up to head to her room.

"See ya in the morning, leader." She says before walking off on me.

"Here is the order of your table sire." Says the NPC as he sets a tray on the table.

Soon enough I got Al, Eli and Kayla returning to the table.

"You are mean." Eli says as she reaches for a piece of pie.

"Yeah man, kinda harsh." Al follows.

"I'm pretty sure there was another way to set her down." Kayla adds.

"Who the fuck falls in love while being in a constant life or death scenario." I say as I grab my head.

"That itself factors for strengthening the bonds I would say." Kayla comments. "Besides you have an example of that in-front of you."

I look at Al and Elina as they eat food from the tray.

"Yeah, but they are…they are…I don't know." I huff. "I just think it's not the time."

"Hey I'm not saying you did something wrong, just saying that this might have some backlash." She answers.

"And that is my fault?"

She nods and starts eating herself. I reach for an apple and bite off a big chunk.

"Should I say sorry or something?" I mutter.

"You are really dense bro." Al says.

"What the hell does that even mean?!"

"Calm down, I say you let her be for tonight." Kayla interjects.

I return to eating some more, time passes by and soon enough I find myself sitting alone at the table. Well, all of that went horrible wrong. I sigh loudly and stretch my arms a bit.

"You seem unhappy."

"Argo, how nice of you to visit." I say.

"Is this a bad time?" She asks.

"Not at all. What is it?"

She sits across from me and takes off her hood. She lifts her hand and orders water.

"I have information I'm pretty sure you'll be interested in."

"I don't think I have time to chase down someone right now." I say.

"What about something?" She says. "A skill, an unique skill."

"I am all ears." I say.

* * *

Crysina here!

And this is the last of love stuff we'll have in a while haha.

I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Leave reviews if you like or didn't like this please.

Thank you for reading! See ya soon!


	13. Chapter 13 - Another Day

**Chapter 13.- Another Day**

**December – 24****th**** – 2022**

**Alshep**

I didn't notice any sooner but I could now see the turquoise tone of the wall thanks to the sunlight starting to creep inside the room from the near window. I like the color, I like it quite a lot to be honest. It's easy on the eyes and it looks nice on clothing, or at least I think so. The shirt I'm wearing right now is that color anyways. While going out to town I would wear something over it, like a coat, usually gray or black. If I were going outside of town I would just cover it with armor. I'm the kind of guy that prefers to wear what he likes instead of going for efficient gear. Daath has lectured me a few times about this, in the earlier days at least. I should wear something that at the very least boosts my defense, he said. But I refused, naturally.

I feel my leg is going numb, so I adjust my position in the chair a little. How can I even feel my leg go numb? My best guess is that perhaps my brain has become too used to the game. It's seriously weird how I haven't grown accustomed to sleeping in chairs. I've been sleeping like so pretty much since the start. I keep staring off at the wall for a bit and become self-conscious for a minute. I suddenly feel trapped and very uncomfortable, the outline of the HUD for some reason becomes too noticeable and I just close my eyes tightly to avoid seeing it. That's right, I'm basically in a coma, I say to myself in my head. The thought itself might be dumb, because my brain is actually lucid, in a way at least. But the simple fact that what I see before my eyes, my body, isn't really my physical body bothers me greatly. I rest my eyes easy for a minute or two and open them slowly to see Elina rise from the bed not too far from where I'm sitting.

She slowly sits up as the sheets covering her move around, she rubs her eyes slowly and stares into space for a few seconds before yawning. She closes her mouth and turns her head very slowly trying to locate me. Our eyes meet and she yawns again.

"Goo…morning." She whispers.

"It's good morning." I clarify.

"Aw…geez isn't it a little too early for you to correct me?" She says.

I chuckle and stand up to stretch a little.

"It is never too early for anything." I say with a smile.

"If you say so." She says with another yawn.

She lies on her back again and turns around to bury her face on the pillow. I can see her moving her feet up and down wildly under the covers and then she relaxes.

"Can I ask another question?" I say.

She turns her head and doesn't say anything right away.

"Sure...I guess."

"How does it feel to do that? You know for you." I say "That didn't come out right…."

"Oh…you mean moving my legs?" She says with a withdrawn tone.

"Yeah…uh I'm sorry, you don't have to answer." I say as I go through my menu.

"No no, it's ok. I'm sorta surprised you didn't ask earlier."

"Really?" I reply

She nods and sits up again with a smile. I feel somewhat better with myself and sit down in the chair again.

"But, come closer." She says cheerfully.

"Hah, alright." I say while I stand up.

I walk over to the bed and sit on the edge facing her.

"Well I wasn't always disabled, that much you know." She says. "I guess it just feels normal you know? It feels like it used to, it's hard to explain…sorry."

"It's ok, it was an odd question anyway." I answer.

The usual beeping tells me I just received a message and proceed to open it through my menu. It's from Kayla.

From: Kayla  
To: Alshep  
Subject: Hurry!  
Message: We are close to leaving, I suggest you two hurry. Our dear "commander" isn't exactly in the holiday mood.

I knew at least someone of the group would hate Christmas. I guess it's just up to our "leader" this time around. I would have expected Aeri to hate the holiday, but what the hell I guess I find this surprising.

"Wait…what day is it today?" Elina asks all of the sudden.

"The twenty fourth, Christmas eve." I say.

Her usual happy expression turns into one of disgust.

"God…I hate Christmas." She mutters.

And the day is just starting.

* * *

"Alright, is this all of us?" Daath asks.

"Are you blind? Or have you been hanging out with another set of four people?" I reply. "Of course it's all of us."

He looks at me with a stern expression and sighs. Ask a stupid question get a stupid answer, it's not my fault. Aeri coughs slightly at a humorous attempt to break the odd silence, I chuckle a bit and straighten up in my seat.

"Stupid jokes aside." Daath says. "Do you know what day is it today?"

"It's Christmas Eve!" Aeri shouts cheerfully.

"No!" Daath raises his voice.

"It is not Christmas eve…" Aeri says in a depressed tone.

"Today is training day." Daath exclaims. "We've been slacking off guys, we have to go out and get some EXP."

"No, I'm pretty sure it's Christmas Eve." I say to piss him off.

"It's Christmas Eve!" Aeri yells again.

"Would you two shut it for a second?!" He says slamming the table.

"Calm down a little Daath, no need to be so moody about it." Kayla says as she crosses her arms.

"You guys are taking this as a game, once outside we are in danger." He comments. "If we are not strong enough, we will die. This is not a game."

"Well, we are technically in a ga-" I interrupt myself.

Elina, Kayla and Aeri are staring me down fiercely. I swallow hard and shut the hell up. I was just about to push it too far.

"Ok boss, where to?" Aeri says.

"Don't call me that please, I know you guys do it as a joke but it's somewhat irritating." He says.

"Well, you do train us and literally give us mission directives. What should we call you then?" Kayla says.

"Just…call me by my name." He mutters before sitting down on the table.

"Look." I huff. "It is not a joke, you are our leader, man. You trained me and Elina in the beginning. No matter how much we argue and contradict each other. I look up to you, the way I would do to a leader."

I see Aeri and Kayla smile along with Elina. Daath chuckles a bit and smiles again.

"Now, why don't you talk like that all the time." He replies.

"I don't know, I enjoy being the asshole of the group I guess."

Daath chuckles again and the mood settles in nicely. I smile to myself and feel satisfied for some reason.

"So what are we going to do in this training day?" Elina asks.

"Just some easy fetch quests, maybe just killing monsters randomly." He answers. "I would want to focus on you Elina, you are still level eleven. The main issue at hand now is us leaving, we should go now."

"I'm just two level behind is it really that bad?" She says.

"I don't want to risk it." Daath insists.

Elina looks at me somewhat confused and I just nod at her. It is true everyone except her right now is level thirteen. It is natural for us to be worried about her I guess. In some way she is the little sister of the group. And I'm her boyfriend…I guess.

"Ok, so where to? Bos-…Daath." Aeri says.

"Into the forest, the enemies are tough but manageable with a group our size. It'll be ok." He answers.

Kayla suddenly shakes in a very odd way and she sighs deeply.

"Please tell me we are not heading to those disturbing grass things that almost swallowed me."

"Was it really that bad?" I ask.

She turns to me with and angry look and suddenly I feel tiny and weak. God she can be scary.

"Was it bad? Was it bad?! I almost died you buffoon!" She yells.

"Okay guys, simmer down. We need to leave soon." Daath says.

Thankfully Kayla backs away from me and I'm able to breathe easy once again. I'm about to stand up when a loud crashing sound booms through the inn. It was very loud, sounded almost like an explosion.

The HUD suddenly shows a red warning and the color signaling that we were in a safe area disappears.

"What the hell was that?!" I yell.

"Shit…I wanted us out of here before this…" Daath mutters.

"You fucking idiot…what didn't you tell us this time?!" I ask filled with anger.

"This is an event…a twisted Christmas event." He says.

"What the hell are you talking about? It isn't even Christmas yet!" I say.

I hear another loud boom and I'm pushed violently by something. I see everyone's health in my HUD go down significantly as I try to get up. I quick glance to the ceiling made me realize there was no more ceiling. I towering green-ish fiend stands above us lifting its massive fist ready to strike again.

"Everyone move!" Aeri shouts.

I stand up as quick as possible and locate Elina quickly. She is still lying on the floor trying to get up. I start running and grab her arm, I pull on her and make her stand up fast. She complains a bit but I keep pulling her close as we exit the inn. Just in time to see the giant mass of trees and vines come crashing down, doing more damage to the building.

"Oh dear god…it's one of the monsters that almost swallowed me." Kayla mutters next to me.

"Oh really? I didn't recall you saying they were the size of fucking buildings!" I say.

"It was way smaller…I swear." She replies.

The giant turns its head towards us and a high pitched scream is heard. It was so high it almost gave me a head ache. Elina covered her ears and so did Kayla.

I cover my ears as well. Daath pulls on Kayla's shoulder and I can only see him mouth words at us. He constantly waves his hand towards him. I grab Elina's hand and take her with me to where Daath is pointing to.

The screaming stops just as we reach the back of a house where Aeri is standing with her sword drawn. Kayla pulls her rapier out and Elina draws her sword as she readies her buckler.

"Want to brief us genius?" I snarl a Daath.

He sighs and takes out his sword as well.

"This is an event that happens randomly in Christmas Eve only on this floor. It's called "Christmas Miracle"" He says.

"What the hell? Why?" Aeri asks.

"Beats me, but it's up to us to destroy that thing now." He says. "And that guy apparently."

"Huh, what guy?" Kayla asks.

Daath raises his hand and points behind us. We all turn around to see a lone man with the bulkiest armor I've ever seen approach us. He wields a long spear and a teardrop shield almost as big as his armor.

"Hey, are you ok?" He asks from afar.

I turn around to see the big green monster ready his fist to crush the house behind us. My sudden move makes everyone turn around and notice it just in time to move away to safety. I pull out my sword and I feel a hand on my shoulder. I quickly move away and point my sword to the tall armored man.

"What do you want?" I ask.

"I just want to help, there's no need for violence friend." He says gently.

His voice was very relaxed and his expression without fear or anger, it was way too peaceful.

"I'm not your frie-" I manage to say before he pushes me away with inhuman strength.

I fall on my ass and one of the giant's arms fall down violently right in from of me. Right where the armored guy was standing. Did he die?

The giant mass of greens jerks its arm off the ground and scream again in that high pitched tone. The man in armor stands peacefully as he regains his relaxed stance after attacking the massive monster.

"How did you do that?" I ask.

He turns to me with eyes closed and a smile on his face.

"I'm just good at this game I guess."

I stand up and grab my sword. Seeing it shine bright green I smile and start my run to the giant's feet. Aeri jumps on a roof and lands perfectly as her sword shines. Kayla is attacking one of the arms that missed them and is currently stuck on the ground along with Elina.

"Don't get too close! It'll swallow you if given the chance." Daath screams as he rushes the monster.

"Be careful." I hear someone say close to me.

I turn my head a little behind me and see the bulky armor approaching me with his spear at the ready.

"You worry about yourself." I say.

With another smile he nods at me and starts heading over to where Daath is standing. Where did his guy come from anyways?

I look up at the beast just as I'm about to reach its feet and notice its health has not been depleted at all. It took me a while, but then I also noticed the purple cursor right above its head.

"This is a purple monster!" I yell.

"Then don't face it head on genius!" Aeri screams back at me.

I pull my sword back and swing it over my head to attack its feet, the damage effect goes off and my sword connects successfully. I quickly unleash another skill and slash it hard a few times. The monster doesn't even flinch. What kind of skill was the other guy using, it at the very least managed to make the giant jerk his arm. It made it look like what I was doing were mere scratches.

"Hey! Armor guy!" I yell.

He finishes attacking the green giant and turns his face to me.

"What level are you?" I ask.

Aeri leaps from a building and attacks near the chest, she then fall to the ground gracefully and again jumps on a roof. I completely lose track of Kayla, Daath and Elina. Their health bars remain the same after the first attack so that's good.

"Fourteen." The man in armor says.

"Holy fuck, really?" I ask awestruck.

He simply nods and then returns his attention to the fight. Aeri is staring in awe now. The man was two levels above us. He must've grinded like crazy.

"Let's go into the forest for a bit, it can't get us there he is too big!" Daath instructs.

"What makes you think it won't destroy the trees?" Kayla shouts.

"Just do it! We need some sort of plan." He replies.

We all heed to his order and go into the forest. It was a bit of a rushed mess but we all gather behind the biggest tree in sigh and rest a bit as we drink some potions.

"First things first. Who are you?" Daath asks to the armored spear wielder.

"I'm Owl." He simply responds.

"Owl? Just like that?" Aeri asks rudely.

"Yes, just like that."

I glance around a bit and see that everyone is as confused as I am. Where did he come from? Why is he much stronger than us? Why the hell was he acting so calm?!

"Ok…uhm Owl, if you don't mind I think we could use your help." Daath says.

The guy turns to him and nods. I guess that's a yes.

"Alright this is what we are going to do." Daath says.

* * *

Everything was a big chaotic mess, Daath's plan didn't work as expected and we found ourselves fighting the exact same way we started. Aeri kept attacking relentlessly from the roof but we only chipped away at ten percent of the giant's health. It was incredibly discouraging. The man in armor was a tank and I dare say his simple cooperation with us was giving us a slight advantage.

He was at a higher level than us, but even with his help we were struggling. But as I said he was at least giving us a fighting chance. A whirring sound sets of near me and I see Elina cross my side as she attacks with her best skill. She slashes the foot fast and savagely, I stop counting at five hits and focus on the cooldown time of my own skills. I still got a few seconds to go.

"Daath, does this massive one have a core as well?" Kayla asks as she steps back.

Daath blocks one of the vines that comes loose and tries to hit him and then jumps back to a safe distance.

"It should…it is the same monster, just bigger." He huffs.

"Bigger is an understatement." I mumble.

"I heard that!" He replies.

I see a vine coming towards me and lift up my sword to block it. It clashes against my blade but instead of backing off it starts to wrap around it. It makes a couple circles around it quickly and it forcefully yanks my sword away from my hands.

I see the vine holding my blade a few feet above and then it throws it away far behind me. The vine swings back and attacks me. Luckily Elina cuts it just in time. The severed vine bursts into light and I begin my run towards my discarded sword.

"Is it safe to assume the core is massive as well?" Kayla inquiries.

"I would think so, yeah." Daath answers.

"Owl, watch out!" Aeri shouts.

The man in armor wasn't paying attention, so he didn't notice the giant's arm coming down on him. For a brief second the thought of his death crosses my mind yet again. But just as last time the colossal enemy jerks its fist off the ground and I see the man named Owl chuckling with his spear in the air.

"So in this case, how do we get to the core?" Kayla questions.

It looked like she was totally disregarding the current situation and just blatantly asking questions to the air in hope of getting answers. Daath did answer of course, but it just felt like they weren't taking this very seriously.

"Unless one of us jumps at it and waits to get swallowed, there's no way to reach it." Daath says as he finishes his attack. "And even if we do that, there's no telling where the core is, it would be very risky."

"How risky exactly?" I ask.

"It could be a one way ticket." Daath answers.

I pick up my sword from the ground and point with it at the distant giant's chest. Somewhere around there I guess. I start another run, but this time to where Owl is standing.

"Don't do it you thick headed idiot!" Aeri yells to me.

I chuckle at the insult and start speeding up as I close in on Owl.

"Hey, Owl!" I scream.

He turns to me for a brief second.

"Launch me! Use your shield!" I yell as I get closer.

"Are you sure?" He says.

I nod and immediately he drops his spear to grab his shield with both hands.

"What do I aim for?" He asks.

"The chest!"

I jump just as he positions himself and land on the lower part of his shield. He grunts and with little difficulty swings his shield under me, launching me right towards the enemy's chest. I'll be honest, I did not expect this to work.

I ready the piercing skill as I'm flying through the air and scream loudly, maybe from both the adrenaline and fear I don't know for sure. The whirring sound intensifies as I get close and it booms loudly as my sword pierces through the giant and impales itself right on the chest.

I hang on to my sword's grip and place my legs on the monster to have some more space to hold on to. I can feel the mass of vines, leaves and trees move under my feet. It feels somewhat disgusting to say the least.

"Nice throw!" I yell at Owl.

He acknowledges me with a nod and picks up his spear to continue his attack. I see Elina from where I'm holding on and see her face shows a little fear. I'll be ok, after all I've got a few promises to keep. I smile and then feel the vines starting to loop around my feet. Like snakes they twirl around my feet and start going up my legs. This is it.

"Idiot, you can still let go. Come on! It isn't worth it." Daath yells from down below.

I start pulling my sword just as I feel I'm secure enough to not fall from the vines and manage to pull it out rather easily. My full weight is now supported simply by the beast itself trying to consume me. I switch my blade to my left hand and quickly fumble through my pockets to get a potion.

I find the small vial and quickly drink it as the moss and vines reach up to my belly. It feels odd. While the giant is trapping me with its own body I still retain little mobility in my legs. As if I was trapped in some very thick fluid, making it hard for me to move.

"I know it's a bad time to ask…but how does this core look like?!" I ask loudly.

"I don't know…I don't know. I'm sorry, it's just like a round hard thing. Like a rock." Kayla says with desperation in her voice.

Her description was rather poor, I guess this is really a one way ticket then. The greens reach up to my arms and my health starts depleting slowly. The potion recovers some of my health as I'm taking damage so it looks like my health is barely dropping.

The monster slowly started creeping over my face and I found myself breathing in deeply as it swallowed me whole. It was dark, very dark, but I could see a faint light not far from me. Maybe it's the core? Then again Kayla didn't mention they glowed or anything.

I could still sort of move inside but I felt a strange force trying to restrain me. The monster obviously didn't want me moving inside. I activated all my skills as fast as I could, one after the other. Every time I attacked it became slightly easier to move and I had set myself to reach the glowing object.

It was exhausting, not only did I need to fight a force trying to hold me down, but the pressure the giant's body applied to mine was everything but comfortable. I finally reached the source of the glowing light and touched something hard and smooth right in-front of me.

"This must be it." I mutter to myself.

I heard the beast scream loudly again and the vines around me got incredibly tight. They started eating at me health faster and it became even harder to move. It must know I reached its weak point.

I triggered a skill and slowly moved my sword to make contact with the glowing orb. My health reached the critical level and the system decided to warm me about it. My sword was slowly getting to the glowing orb when a vine crushed my right arm violently making me drop my sword. Shit.

I struggled hard to reach my sword but it quickly sank deeper into the monster and away from my reach. I could hear my heart beating, nothing else. Along with my desperate grunts it made for the most frustrating moment so far in this game.

Somehow I managed to open my menu and tried to take out something useful. In a moment of desperation I found the most unusual piece of equipment of them all.

-Wolf Blade "Broken"-

Suddenly I'm glad I kept this piece of crap. The broken blade materializes into my hand and I start trying to reach the orb again with the jagged blade. My health reached fifty, and I started to shake and move violently. I need to reach it…

Fourty three….twelve…I'm going to die…scared I closed my eyes.

A cracking noise was heard all of the sudden and my health stopped dropping. I opened my eyes slowly and saw that the badly broken blade managed to make contact with the orb. The orb started cracking and it burst into light some few short seconds after. A was blinded by light shortly after. The monster's body must've exploded. It was just as the light stopped blurring my sight that I realized I was more than a few feet from the ground.

Well at least I managed to kill it, everyone will be safe now. I plummet to the ground but suddenly I stop falling. I didn't slam into the ground like I thought. I turned my sight a little and met with the new face. Owl caught me before slamming into the ground.

"Are you alright?" He asks

"Yeah…thank you." I say. "Not that I'm ungrateful but please put me down."

He was holding me like a princess and it was embarrassing. He apologized and set me on my feet.

"Here drink this, buddy." He says as he hands me a red vial.

"Thanks." I answer.

I uncap the tiny vial and start drinking and smile as see my health slowly starting to go up. Cutting it close once again, it's almost as if I liked near death scenarios. I kneel on the spot and sit on my ass to rest.

"Impressive." Owl comments.

"Ha, thanks." I say smugly.

"Al!" I hear from afar.

Elina is running towards me with her eyes filled with tears. She drops her sword and her buckler and continues running to me. As she reaches me she drops on her knees and hugs me tightly. I support myself with one hand placed on the floor behind me and place the other over her back and pat her gently.

"I'm ok, don't worry." I whisper.

"I thought you were gone…" She says close to my ear.

I see Aeri come down from a roof near us and she sheathes her sword. She then leans her back on the wall and slides down to sit and drinks a potion. Kayla and Daath are walking from down the street up to us. Elina stopped burying her face on my chest and wiped her tears away. She looked straight into my eyes and smiled, I did so too. Then without thinking I leaned in to kiss her. I guess it just felt appropriate. At first she tensed up but then she relaxed and wrapped her arms around me.

Sadly this blissful moment lasted but a few seconds.

"I KNEW IT!" Aeri shouts off the top of her lungs.

I opened my eyes and stopped doing what I was doing. I looked ahead and saw Aeri make a little victory dance on the spot as she kept repeating. "I knew it! I knew it!" She then started running towards us and stopped right in-front of us.

"I totally knew you two were boyfriend and girlfriend." She shouts.

I stand up and help Elina on her feet. I sigh loudly and look at Elina, she is blushing a lot and is staring at me.

"Yeah, I guess we are." I say.

I feel Elina taking hold of my hand and suddenly I don't care anymore of what Aeri has to say. I'm just happy. Result screens suddenly pop out in-front of us.

-Christmas Miracle Event-

An odd name for an event that isn't even on Christmas day, but I guess it is a miracle we managed to pull through. I was about to speak when a clapping noise started to grow louder and more frequent. NPCs started surrounding us, clapping and screaming in joy.

"Thanks heroes!" They yell.

"Thank you so much." Says another voice.

We stand in the middle of a crowd that is congratulating us and crying out of joy that we saved their little town. It was an amazing moment, it felt great to play hero.

* * *

It took a bit for the crowd to settle down, and by a bit I mean like three hours. The inn keeper told us the inn was still operable in its current state, and after a long fight that's all we wanted to hear. We wanted to rest and unwind from the sudden epic battle.

The place was badly damaged but the fireplace was lit up and we gathered a bunch of chairs to sit and eat lots of food.

"I say we make Owl part of our group." Kayla comments.

Immediately Daath's attention switches to her and he looks like he is about to get pissed.

"That's a good idea." Elina seconds.

"Yeah, what the hell." I say.

"Have you guys even considered maybe he doesn't want to join?" Daath scolds.

"Actually I wanted to ask if I could join you." Says Owl.

Daath and Aeri look at each other quickly and nod.

"Ok, fine." Daath says. "Welcome to our deranged team."

Thank you leader, are we really that bad.

"You guys are spectacular, I've never seen such a coordinated and cooperative team in here." Owl says with a smile.

Thank you recent acquaintance, I knew we weren't that bad.

"Then it has been decided, let add our new team mate to our party." Kayla suggests.

Daath goes through his menu to send him a message and the box pops up in-front of Owl. He accepts quickly and a new and last name for our group appears below Kayla's name.

-Owlman439-

We all sit in silence and Aeri coughs silently. Kayla covers her mouth an starts giggling, trying to keep it discrete she turns her head to the side. Elina's cheeks blow up a little and she starts laughing loudly. Noticing this she covers her mouth and hides her face as well.

"Really? Four thirty nine?" Aeri mutters.

"So there at least four hundred and thirty eight more people with your name?" I mock trying not to burst out in laughter.

"I have no idea, it's just been my user name for pretty much everything." He adds without reaction to our laughing.

"How old are you?" Elina asks.

"I am fifteen."

Jaws drop yet again, mine included.

"You are fucking huge." I grunt.

"Yes, I worked out a lot." He responds.

We talk into the night and keep picking at Owl without any response of him. I guess he is the kind of guy you just can't tick off. In a way it was a pretty nice day. We were eating a feast under the open sky…through a broken roof, but under the open sky nevertheless. No matter if Daath and Elina didn't like Christmas it was going to be a good one.

* * *

Crysina here!

This was unbelievably fun to write.

I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Please kind readers if you reached this far I implore you to leave a review I would like to know how I'm doing.  
I really don't mind if it's good or bad.

Credit to Terra Booma for coming up with Owl. We'll be seeing more of him soon.

Thank you for reading! See ya soon!


	14. Chapter 14 - Recollection

**Chapter 14.- Recollection**

**November – 6****th**** – 2022**

**Sumiko**

My eyes have been stinging for over an hour now, I really should just turn off my computer and go to sleep. Who am I kidding there's no way that's happening, at least not in the next few hours. It is early in the morning and I didn't sleep one bit. I've been up playing games all night, while I wait for the right time to go out and get another. Sword Art Online. I'm so excited.

I've been so hyped all the week that simply saying VRMMORPG brings shivers down my spine, it's exhilarating. Full diving is what has me the most excited. To be completely transferred into a fantastical land simply sounds amazing.

I click my mouse quickly again and again, as my pointer stands over the massive boss of the dungeon. My character moves up and starts cutting it with a small sword in one hand and a shield in the other. She moves swiftly while attacking, but this is merely because of my excellent skills. I smile smugly at the screen and pull a little on the mic attached to my headphones.

"Where is my back up?" I ask changing my voice to a sweet and soft melody.

"Right away, princess." Say a couple of voices in unison.

That's right, I'm a princess and all of you are but my loyal subjects. I smile again and keep attacking the boss, feeling the constant tapping of my finger on the button I start feeling excited. Just a little more, we are almost there.

I browse over the screen and see a spot that should be occupied by a healer of my party. It appeared one of my loyal guards was not standing where he should have been. The boss lifts its massive fists and smashes the ground, creating a shockwave that completely destroys my character and all others in my party. I mute the mic and slam my keyboard with both hands.

"Fuck!" I yell loudly. "Gah! Fucking idiots!"

I simmer down a little and hear some chatter on my headphones.

"Princess, I'm so sorry." Someone cries.

I breathe in deeply and switch to my melodic voice.

"It's ok, nothing but a simple mistake. Be sure it doesn't occur again please." I say.

Strangling my healer a few times in my mind I keep breathing easily. Just a few more minutes Sumiko…just a few more minutes. Whatever little patience I had suddenly disappears.

"Screw this! I'm going to pick up SAO!" I shout on the mic.

"Wait wait Kayl-"

I shut off my computer and stand up. I grab my head and ruffle my own hair a bit. I sigh deeply and move my chair away as I head to my bathroom. My room is rotting mess, maybe I should consider cleaning it up a bit. Perhaps…nah, it's ok the way it is. I reach the bathroom and lift the toilet lid. I sit quickly and go about my business. Looking around I notice something that might be troubling for some people.

"Even my bathroom is a freaking mess." I mutter to myself.

I stand up and open the water tab for a little, letting the water run I stand idle for a second. The mirror reflects a fun image. My blonde hair is everywhere and my eyes seem baggy as usual. Strangely enough I have gotten used to this kind of state and no matter what I find myself sleeping very little every day. I wake up tired and exhausted yes, but I can't go to sleep any earlier anymore. I place my hands in the water and make a little bowl to gather some of the falling liquid. I lean over a bit and splash my face with cold refreshing water.

I open my mouth and gasp a little as I let the water drip off my face. It's a nice feeling. An alarm in my room suddenly starts making a ruckus. It is time. I grab a towel that was lying on the floor and quickly dry my face as I grab a hoodie that I left on the floor a few days back. I reach my phone and turn off the alarm. I start getting excited and grab some loose pants from the floor. In a hurry I try to dress and end up tripping as I was pulling my pants up.

"Dammit." I grunt as I roll on my back.

Not wasting a second I pull up the rest and button up the pants.

"Hat…hat…hat?" I mur mur looking for the obvious.

Unable to find the one I wanted a settle for a baseball cap lying in my nightstand. I snug it on and pull the hoodie over my head. I can't help but to smile and head to the door of my room almost running.

"Shit, my wallet." I cry as I turn around on my feet.

Making more of a mess in my room I find my wallet under some clothing and quickly bolt off the door. Going down the hallway the door of my brother's room suddenly props open. Quickly moving to my side I barely manage to avoid hitting myself.

"Sorry sis…" He says half-asleep.

Mad and growing impatience I frown at him.

"Watch it you dumbnut!" I yell and rush down the stairs.

Hoping my mother won't wake up I pass her room at full speed and jump down the little step before the door of my house. Quickly putting on my shoes I go out the door and into the freash, cold morning air. I breathe in deeply and smile at the gloomy looking day.

"Just how I like it." I say grinning at the clouds.

It's a small walk to the bus stop and then a small wait on it, ten to fifteen minutes, it really depends on how punctual the bus-driver is. After that I get off on the stop close to the mall. It takes a bit to walk up and get inside, but since I'm running it really shouldn't take long. I'm excited, I've been waiting for this game so long.

The big grin in my face is soon erased as I see a long line of people leading to the particular shop of my interest. I sigh in disgust and pull my hoodie down some more. I don't really like being around people…real people.

I get in line and keep my head down as some more guys get in line behind me. I hope not to make a fuzz, in this particular kind of line is not the one where you could expect to see a girl. The guys tend to get excited and ogle frantically if they find out. I soon realize I didn't tuck my hair into the cap, but it was already too late.

"Dude…is that a girl in-front of you?" I hear behind me.

I start getting irritated the longer I stay in line. I don't notice at the start but my foot started tapping against the floor, I'm growing impatient.

"She looks hot…" I hear.

I can feel a frown taking over my face but I try not to mind it so much, I'm close to the store's door which means I'm closer to getting what I came here for and closer to getting the hell out of here.

I stay in line, hearing comment after comment. Perhaps some of them aren't even about me but the constant muttering behind me is pissing me off. Just a bit longer Sumiko….just a bit longer. I have been grinding my teeth for a while now. The person in-front of me steps away with a NerveGear and a copy of SAO and I smile widely. Finally. I look inside my pockets and hand the clerk a receipt of my reserved copy. He looks at it for a second and then stares at me.

"Could you show me some id?" He asks.

"What?" I answer.

"An id. I need to make sure this is your ticket." He insists.

"Just give me my stupid game." I mutter.

"What?" The clerk says.

"Nothing, here." I say with a fake smile as I give him my student's card.

He checks my name and then the name on the ticket. He sighs and searches under the counter. He places a boxed NerveGear and a copy of the game on top of it on the counter.

"Here you go, shouldn't you be at school?" He says after placing the items on a bit bag.

That's it.

"Shouldn't you mind your own fucking business?" I say somewhat loudly.

I feel everyone in the store staring at me, but I fell incredibly satisfied. The clerk has his hand extended to me with my id. I grab it harshly and turn to the line of people staring at me with their mouths open.

"Damn…" Someone mutters.

I grab my bag of goodies with my left hand and walk off the store slowly. The eyes of everyone are trained on me but I repress all other impulse to insult anyone else. I exit the mall and breathe in deeply again. I look up at the cloudy sky and smile as a single rain drop falls on my cheek.

"Just how I like it…" I mutter again.

I walk to another bus station and wait for a few minutes. I want to get home and play my game, but the ride home is slightly longer. Thankfully I released quite a bit of stress on the nosy clerk, so I can wait just a bit longer.

I arrive home and walk at a fast pace towards the door. I open it and find an unpleasant figure in front of me. It's my mother.

"Not going to school again?" She asks.

I kneel on one knee for a bit to take off my shoes and stare at her with a blank expression.

"Yes." I answer in a flat tone.

She rolls her eyes and looks down on me, angry.

"You need to stop doing this, for your own sake…."She mutters softly.

"Yeah….no" I say and walk past her.

Why is everyone poking their noses into my business it's starting to become really annoying. I'm halfway through the stairs when I hear her voice again.

"At least try reconsidering it for a second." She says.

I step back a little and look at her from the first landing in the stairs.

"Ok." I say and shut my mouth for a second.

Trying to appear thoughtful I bring my hand to my chin and stare into the air a little. Her eyes literally brighten up and she starts getting closer to me.

"No." I answer before she gets any closer.

Her expression seems sad now, but I turn around and head up stairs to the small hallway where the door to my room and brother's stand. His door again comes ajar and I see the little black haired boy step out of his room. He looks so fragile it almost makes me feel warm inside.

"Why are you always so mean with mom?" He asks.

"Mind your own business." I say harshly as I nudge him away from my path.

I go through my door frame and I feel safe and sound all of the sudden. I sit on my floor leaning against the door and start opening the box containing my NerveGear. I take out the heavy helmet and smile wildly as I stare at every inch of it. This is it, my game.

I stand up with the helmet under my arm and the box of the game in my free hand. I walk t my chair and turn it around to sit on it. Slowly placing the NerveGear near my keyboard I feel myself grinning again.

"It's time for Kayla to be reborn." I mumble to myself.

Another game, another delightful place filled with endless possibilities. Another place filled with adventure that I'll get to experience in full-dive. Another world to not be me.

* * *

Crysina here!

I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Games can be a place of pretend but they are also worlds filled with lies.  
This is sadly the advantage and disadvantage of anonymity.

Please kind readers if you reached this far I implore you to leave a review I would like to know how I'm doing.  
I really don't mind if it's good or bad.

Thank you for reading! See ya soon!


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